Himanshu Shekhar elevated as cluster CEO of GroupM Thailand, Indonesia and Vietnam

Himanshu Shekhar has been elevated to expand his remit as the cluster CEO of GroupM Thailand apart from Indonesia and Vietnam. GroupM Indonesia announced this news on its LinkedIn post.

Shekhar commented on his new appointment, “The Group’s strategy to cluster Thailand, Indonesia and Vietnam under one unified leadership will strengthen market capabilities and network agility. Given the breadth and depth of resources across these three important markets, we will be able to scale our capabilities and solutions to deliver enhanced value for all our clients and partners. I am thrilled to partner an illustrious leader like Pathamawan whose depth of field experience in Thailand will undoubtedly propel us into an even more glorious future.”

Shekhar has been a media practitioner of over two decades and has served on various leadership roles in GroupM Agencies (Mindshare) across India, Indonesia and South East Asia countries. He was appointed CEO, Indonesia in 2011 and CEO South East Asia in 2014. Across different roles he has partnered global as well as local clients especially Unilever, Nestle, GSK, Indofood, Shopee etc.

Previously he had served in various leadership roles for Mindshare India for over 7 years (last served as General Manager), Big FM for 2 years as Business Head North & West.

His media journey has been one of systemic transformation. Driving new thinking, building high performance team and nurturing strategic partnerships has brought industry recognition locally as well as globally. Over the years, his leadership has powered sustained success for the group, brought industry recognition and built lasting partnerships.

Maninder Bali resigns from Vedantu

Maninder Bali, Head of Brand Marketing, Vedantu, has quit the company, according to sources. 

Bali's association with an online learning platform to head brand marketing started in August 2021.

He is currently serving his notice period while his next move remains unknown. 

Viraj Jit Singh steps down as MX Player Head of Revenue

Viraj Jit Singh, MX Player & MX TakaTak SVP and Head Revenue, has called it quits after an almost four-year stint, a source close to the development has informed e4m.

Singh joined MX Player in July 2018 as Head of Revenue. Subsequently, he also got the revenue mandate for the short video platform MX TakaTak, which is in the process of merging with ShareChat-owned Moj.

As Head of Revenue, Viraj was driving the global ad revenue goals, monetisation strategy, partnerships across programmatic demand and data enrichment, trade narrative, revenue planning, pricing, and ad operations.

Prior to MX Player, he was Chief Sales & Marketing Officer at KidZania India. Before that, he had a two-year stint at Viacom18, first as National Head - Viacom Brand Solutions, and then as National Head for Viacom18 Live. He has also worked with companies like ESPN Star Sports and Reliance Broadcast Network.

Recently, MX Player roped in Dina D’Souza as Senior Vice President of direct business and OTT AVOD. Before MX Player, D’Souza was working with Trell as its VP and Head of ad monetisation. In the past, she had worked with Flipkart, Pokkt, 9X Media, Microsoft, Yahoo, and the Times Group.

WOW Skin Science appoints Vaibhav Arora as Vice President of ecommerce

FMCG Personal Care and wellness brand WOW Skin Science has appointed Vaibhav Arora as Vice President Ecommerce. He will be responsible for building consumer franchise through the company's D2C website, expanding the online footprint across social-commerce and establishing WOW Skin Science as a market leader across horizontal and vertical marketplaces in the personal care nutrition and wellness segments.

With his career spanning over 10 years, Arora in his previous mandate led the Vendor Management function for Grocery, Health and Personal Care businesses at Cloudtail before which he has led leadership roles at organisations such as Amazon, Myntra and Tata group. He has also led diverse charters encompassing launching private brands in multiple categories, business strategy, risk management, business development and product management.

In his new role, Arora says, “WOW Skin Science breaks the clutter with its online GTM strategies and is deeply invested in delivering a superior product to the consumer. I am excited to make the organisation more data-centric, build scale mechanisms, and use customer insights to shape our innovation pipeline. I look forward to bringing WOW’s customer experiences to come alive across all online commerce touchpoints.”

Manish Chowdhary, Co-Founder, WOW Skin Science states, “We are excited to welcome Vaibhav Arora onboard and leverage his leadership within the WOW Skin Science family. With Vaibhav’s deep expertise and experience in ecommerce as well as his passion and enthusiasm, he will help shape how customers experience WOW across our increasingly diverse online commerce touchpoints, including our D2C platform. We look forward to Vaibhav building long term partnerships that will drive growth and profitability.”

Post Office Studios strengthens its circuit of creative professionals with several key appointments 

Kulfi Collective’s global animation and motion design vertical, Post Office Studios, has added efficient hires to its innovative and dynamic crew of designers, animators, visual effects artists and new media tech experts.

Kushal Bhor has a diverse experience in animation, 3D design, videography, visual design, video production and video animation. He has previously worked as a Creative Head at a boutique production house and has joined Post Office Studios as a Creative Director.  Kushal is very enthusiastic, an explorer who loves challenges and experimenting beyond his comfort zone. As part of the Creative Directors panel at Post Office, he will not only lead projects but also nurture upcoming talents at the studio.

Meanwhile, diligent and reliable, Prasad Kelkar has also been appointed a Creative Director. His role will see him focus on providing top-notch design solutions, animation, and motion design projects to clients. He will oversee the work of both internal and external artists, manage client feedback and coordinate with creative and post-producers to ensure timely delivery as per KULFI standards. Prior to Post Office Studios, Prasad’s 2-year stint at 4 AM Worldwide has seen him head its motion design vertical and lead a creative team of designers, 2D/3D animators and compositors.

Joydeep Chowdhury joined Post Office Studios as an Associate Creative Director. A graduate of Zee Institute of Creative Art, he has a strong background in the media production industry, having worked for 10 years. At Post Office Studios, he will oversee art direction and elevate the creativity quotient across various projects. His versatility in artistic direction and attention to detail will help Post Office craft distinct design-driven content that matches international standards. Previously, Joydeep was with Sealine Productions as a creative art director.

Taher Merchant has joined Post Office Studios as Lead, Brand Partnerships, having over six years of experience managing and leading teams across multiple sectors at notable companies like Uber and Studio Dialogbox. Driven by his eagerness, a genuine passion for business management and scaling organisations to greater heights, Taher will help formulate and execute strategies to grow brand partnerships across multiple industry sectors in collaboration with the Post Office Studios’ creative and operations team.

With a background of twelve years in commercials and digital video content production, Kedar Thapar joined Post Office Studios as Executive Producer. His role sees him manage and support teams on multiple projects and coordinate with the creative team and production team to close projects. Adept at a solution-focused approach, Kedar leverages his vast experience to manage risk, solve problems and overcome challenges on the fly.

Besides these new appointments, Aunnesha Sen, previously Creative Producer at Post Office Studios with an experience of 8+ years in the field, has been elevated to the position of Executive Producer.

Shirley D’Costa - CBO - Kulfi Collective said, “Over the last 2 years, we’ve seen a staggering increase in both interest and demand in the animation and immersive content space, both within India and globally. We are excited to strengthen our motion design capabilities with this incredible team of talented hires while we continue to deliver world-class content as a global new media studio.”  

Aditya Tawde - Co-founder & CCO - Post Office Studios, said, “We feel it’s a great combination of hiring a new set of talented people while upscaling the existing people, and we are looking forward to working with them. The biggest challenge in any growing startup organisation is to scale, and with a team of these bright minds, Post Office Studios will definitely set a new global benchmark in the motion design space.”