MAM
Unilever to shift thinking to New Delhi, says CEO
MUMBAI: FMCG behemoth Unilever is shifting its organisational focus to emerging markets to better anticipate the needs of a growing but “ever more demanding” class of consumers, said CEO Paul Polman at the Cannes Lions Festival of Creativity.
Polman charted the company‘s strategic move to the Far East and the Bric countries (Brazil, Russia, India, China) to benefit from their mushrooming populations.
“We have to shift our thinking to New Delhi, not New York”, Polman affirmed.
Unilever‘s brands are traded in 180 countries and 56 per cent of its revenues come from non-European countries. The company expects this to rise to 70-75 per cent by 2020.
Polman underlined that Bric countries will be home to the world‘s [fastest growing] populations and their consumers will get increasingly more demanding.
Polman amplified the “superconnectivity” of the internet that provides companies like Unilever with huge commercial opportunity to reach the next one billion consumers. He also highlighted the importance of Facebook.
Polman was talking after Unilever announced a major restructure broadening its category organisation to four divisions and the promotion of Harish Manwani to chief operating officer.
On Friday, the company announced that president for Asia, Africa, Central and Eastern Europe, Harish Manwani will don the role of COO from 1 September.
Also, the FMCG is moving from the current HPC (Home and Personal Care) and Foods categorisation to create four new categories reporting to the global CEO.
These would be Personal Care (to be headed by Dave Lewis, currently president,Americas), Refreshment – Ice Cream and Beverages (Ice Cream EVP Kevin Havelock), Food (Skin EVP Antoine de Saint Affrique), and Home Care (Laundry EVP Randy Quinn and Household Care senior VP Sean Gogarty).
The new structure will be put in place in the quarter of July to September, and can get fully operational before December 2011.
AD Agencies
Prakash Nair reportedly quits Ogilvy after 23 years
One of the agency’s longest-serving leaders has moved on, with his next destination still unknown
MUMBAI: After more than two decades at one address, Prakash Nair has left the building. The president and head of office, north at Ogilvy has moved on from the agency, according to highly placed industry sources. His next move remains unknown. Ogilvy did not respond to requests for comment.
Nair spent over 23 years at the agency, making him one of its longest-serving senior figures. He was elevated to lead the Gurugram office in April 2022, a role that put him at the helm of Ogilvy’s northern operations at a time of considerable churn across the advertising industry.
Before taking charge in the capital, Nair served as associate president at Ogilvy Mumbai, where he worked on some of the agency’s most prized accounts, including Mondelez, Tata Motors, and BP Castrol. Over the years, he built a reputation for driving modern, integrated, and award-winning work, the kind that wins metals at Cannes and keeps clients from straying.
His departure was marked in style. A farewell gathering was held in Delhi, attended by senior figures from across the advertising fraternity, a signal of the regard in which Nair is held in an industry that does not always pause to say goodbye properly.
Where he goes next is the question the industry is now asking. After 23 years at one of the world’s most storied agencies, the answer, when it comes, will be worth watching.
