Global ad holding company WPP has appointed Wavemaker’s Deepa Jatkar as India head for OpenDoor, the unit set up to handle the Amazon account. Billed as the “Global Media Pitch of the Decade”, Amazon’s media planning and buying account went up for review in late 2023. In September 2024, WPP and Omnicom Media Group (OMG) were named joint winners, bagging the media business after edging out the incumbent – IPG’s Initiative.
Read more: WPP and Omnicom bag Amazon’s media account after marathon global review
WPP is handling Amazon’s media business in APAC and EMEA, while Omnicom gets the Americas. WPP owns media services major GroupM which houses Mindshare, Wavemaker and EssenceMediacom, among other firms. OpenDoor is WPP’s dedicated global client practice for Amazon, providing custom-built teams around the client’s specific needs and challenges and easy access to the right capabilities.
WPP describes OpenDoor as “a unique integration of the best of WPP and Amazon – building on their respective strengths and visions. Whether at WPP or at Amazon, every project is an OpenDoor on new possibilities. Anything and everything can be an opportunity for our people to drive impact – for them to innovate, learn, thrive, and occasionally fail too.”
The OpenDoor partnership model is built to deliver “next level” productivity, fueled by WPP’s approach to People, Platforms, and Process. The unit spans across all WPP agencies and disciplines such as media, business consultancy, communications and brand strategy, tech and commerce, public relations, and production.
WPP is bolstering its capabilities in India, an important market for Amazon, with the appointment of OpenDoor leadership and other hirings including planning, trading and investment directors.
In 2023, Jatkar joined Wavemaker India as its Chief Growth Officer with experience of more than 20 years in media and consumer technology. She joined Wavemaker from Meta India, where she was a part of the global sales and marketing team and a key member of the India sales leadership team. In her role at Wavemaker, Jatkar reported to Ajay Gupte, CEO – South Asia and was based out of the agency’s Mumbai office.