After two years of turmoil, Dentsu in India scripting a turnaround

Dentsu India under its new leadership is working on a turnaround plan after a raft of leadership changes and key client losses over two years.

By
  • Priyanka Nair,
 | June 17, 2023 , 12:04 pm
The representation of female HODs (head of departments) in Hindi content remained at a stagnant 17 percent, making it the only language with double-digit female HOD representation.
The representation of female HODs (head of departments) in Hindi content remained at a stagnant 17 percent, making it the only language with double-digit female HOD representation. (Representative Image: Ross Findon via Unsplash)

Dentsu in India is slowly fixing its people problems. In 2021, the Indian unit of Dentsu Group Inc was rocked by a series of senior-level exits. According to insiders, over the last two years, the accelerated ‘transformation’ of Dentsu International’s operations in India led to the leadership changes, consolidations and dissolutions of agency brands. Over the last few months, Dentsu in India has made significant changes and rejigged its leadership to script a turnaround.

Narayan Devanathan, the former chief client officer of Dentsu India, is back in office. He will be taking up a consulting role as group chief strategic advisor. Devanathan was associated with the agency for 11 years before he moved on last year to become National Foundation for India’s chief strategy officer. The company has confirmed the development with Storyboard18.

In January 2023, Sapna Arora, former marketing head of OLX Group replaced Devanathan. Two months after that, the agency appointed Harsha Razdan as chief executive for its South Asia office. This post was vacant since the sudden exit of its former CEO, Anand Bhadkamkar, who quit in September 2021. In the same month, when Divya Karani the media chief of the agency decided to move on from Dentsu X. The agency immediately elevated Anita Kotwani. She is now the CEO of media for South Asia.

The agency since 2021 saw several high-profile exits which include Ashish Bhasin, Rubeena Singh, Vivek Bhargava, Gautam Mehra, Shamsuddin Jasani, Agnello Dias, Santosh Padhi, among a bunch of others. Industry moles tell Storyboard18 that this is the right time for the agency to hit the restart button and getting things in order. From people to business, Dentsu in India need a new plan of action to get back in force.

Media business-wise this year, so far, hasn’t been kind for the agency. Dentsu lost two major media accounts this year. In March, Dentsu lost Maruti Suzuki’s Rs 1200 crore media account. In May, the agency lost Reckitt Benckiser’s Rs 1600 Cr media business. With new people on board, Denstu can win back its mojo, says a former employee of the agency to Storyboard18.

Read more: Dentsu loses Maruti Suzuki Rs1200 crore media account to Mindshare

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