To drive future growth, Havas India, part of Havas Network, has announced a significant leadership transition across three key agencies under the Havas Creative Network India umbrella, including Havas Worldwide India (creative), Conran Design Mumbai (brand design), and Havas CX India (customer experience).
As part of the same, the agency has elevated Kundan Joshee, who had been serving the role of Managing Partner at Havas Worldwide India for close to a year now, to Managing Director of the India operations.
Anupama Ramaswamy, who has been associated with Havas Worldwide India as its Chief Creative Officer for more than one-and-a-half-years now, has taken an additional responsibility of Joint Managing Director along with the CCO profile.
Similarly, Geet Nazir, who has been serving as Managing Partner of Conran Design Group Mumbai for the past three-and-a-half years, has been elevated to the role of Managing Director of the agency and Prashant Tekwani, who has been Havas CX’s Managing Partner for the past two years, has been elevated to the role of Managing Director of both- Havas CX India and Ekino (technology) India.
In addition, the Creative Network includes Think Design (UI/UX) led by Deepali Saini, CEO; Shobiz (experiential) led by Sameer Tobaccowala, CEO; PR Pundit Havas Red (public relations) led by Archana Jain, CEO; Havas People (employer branding) led by Arindam Sengupta as Managing Director; and Prose on Pixels (production) led by Makarand Nirmal, Vice President – Operations.
While Joshee, Nazir and Tekwani will be based out of Mumbai in their new roles, Ramaswamy will continue to be based out of Gurgaon and all four along with Tobaccowala, Jain, Saini and Sengupta will continue to report to Rana Barua, Group CEO, Havas India, South East Asia and North Asia (Japan and South Korea).
These elevations come in the aftermath of Havas Worldwide India witnessed a flux in the past one year due to some leadership exits.
But even during this period of transition, both Ramaswamy and Joshee played a pivotal role in further consolidating the agency and strengthening its relationships with key clients like Reckitt, Stellantis, MamaEarth, Suzuki, William Grant, UTI Mutual Fund and Harman, amongst others, as per the agency.
While Ramaswamy has been instrumental in creating some of the most talked-about campaigns of the last two years for clients including Harpic, Veet, Mortein, Mamaearth, IQOO, Vivo, Karnataka Bank, UTI Mutual Funds, Vanish, etc., she has also helped the agency in consolidating and building a strong creative team.
Similarly, Joshee has helped the agency in fortifying and stabilising client relationships, winning several new businesses like Karnataka Bank, Indie (IndusInd Bank), IQOO, RealMe, etc. and streamlining processes that have strengthened the overall business, attracted talent, and increased client satisfaction scores.
Launched in 2021 under the leadership of Nazir, who has led the agency to become one of the most prominent brand and design consultancies in India, Conran Design Mumbai over the past three years has built a roster of marquee clients including Zydus Lifesciences, PayU, Coca-Cola India, Nestle, Usha Martin, etc. And since Havas launched Conran Design Group network as a new global offering dedicated to brand and design, her elevation comes at a critical juncture and therefore she will play a central role in scaling up the agency further.
Tekwani, on the other hand, has been instrumental in building and leading Havas CX in India since 2020 and has steadily built and consolidated the agency through a strong CX team along with Ekino, and some of the agency’s biggest clients including Bandhan Life (erstwhile Aegon Life), Bosch Mobility Services, Tata Steel, STT Telecommunications and Air Asia amongst others. With him at the helm, Havas CX India is going to play a more critical role in the region and scale up its India operations by ramping up talent and expertise like CRM, technology, loyalty, etc.
In discussing the recent elevations, Barua, Group CEO, Havas India, South East Asia and North Asia (Japan and South Korea), said, “Over the past few years, our focus has been on enhancing our expertise and solidifying our position as the most progressive communications network in India. While our Media Network, under the leadership of Mohit Joshi, Uday Mohan, R Venkat, and Shibu Shivanandan, has thrived, Havas Creative Network India has grown exponentially both organically and inorganically and has built the creative repertoire of Havas India.”
“Kundan, Anupama, Geet, and Prashant have been instrumental in scaling up the operations of their respective agencies, demonstrating resilience and genuine leadership qualities,” he continued.
Furthermore, he also added, “As we transition towards a new phase of growth, I am confident that these four leaders will play an even greater role in driving our growth, both within India and on a global scale. Their dedication and leadership is paving the way for our future success. I wish them all the best.”
