Ogilvy after Piyush Pandey: Can the agency retain creative monopoly amid fierce competition?

In 2023, premium content like sports and films were put in front of the paywall and fast products made a massive impact in bringing scale to digital viewership. (Representative Image: My Life Through A Lens via Unsplash)

Piyush Pandey’s transition to an advisory role comes at a time when a raft of new agencies and specialist firms seem to be challenging the creative monopoly of ad giants like Ogilvy.

Best advice Piyush Pandey has given to his brother Prasoon Pandey

On his brother, Piyush Pandey, Prasoon says, "The kind of human being he is sets him apart. We all know that he is brilliant with his ideas, what makes him special is he values the relationships he builds, and that reflects in the teams he leads. He not only protects them, he nurtures them and takes care of them."

Prasoon Pandey, director, Corcoise Films, talks about how his older brother and legendary adman Piyush Pandey jams with him to crack ideas, thinks from his heart, and nurtures his team.

Piyush Pandey and Ogilvy: A look back at Indian advertising’s greatest innings

As it goes in the nineties' Cadbury ad, kuch khaas hai hum sabhi mein, there is something extra special about Piyush Pandey. His work has proved to be an inspiration across generations. His ideas and words have cut across India and the world. (Imaging: Triparna Mitra)

The legendary adman Piyush Pandey makes way for next-gen leadership at Ogilvy, perhaps signaling the end of one of advertising’s greatest innings.

Leadership change at Ogilvy India; Piyush Pandey gets an advisory role

Piyush Pandey believes that evolution of creativity comes from the work where the client does not have to ‘prove’ or spend huge amounts of money to see results. He supported this by stating the example of Pidilite Industries, an adhesives manufacturing company, which has been the client of Ogilvy India for over three decades.

Hephzibah Pathak will take on the role of executive chairperson of Ogilvy India. VR Rajesh becomes CEO of the agency. Harshad Rajadhyaksha, Kainaz Karmakar, Sukesh Nayak, and Prem Narayan join the Ogilvy Board.

Efficacy Worldwide enters Singapore market; bolsters its leadership team

This strategic lays the foundation for Efficacy Worldwide's future operations in South Asian markets and the Middle East. (Representative Image: Kyle Glenn via Unsplash)

The founding team, Vishnu Sharma and Sapna Sharma will have additional responsibilities, more diverse functions, and larger portfolios. Nazda Khan will continue to lead business development as chief growth officer.

Meet Neeral Trivedi, India’s Taekwon-Do champ and Lodestar UM’s business director

While sportspersons like Neeral Trivedi are representing India and winning big at international forums, brands aren’t widening their partnership possibilities. As a media planner, Trivedi agrees that brands still use return on investments as a metric while drawing sponsorship plans.

Trivedi recently bagged a Bronze Medal at the 22nd World ITF Taekwon-Do Championship held in Kazakhstan. Here’s her story.

WPP’s CEO Mark Read: When the hype around AI declines, that’s when we still need to invest

Mark Read, CEO, WPP, says, "AI is fundamental to WPP’s business in the future and it has been in some ways for some years in our media business and in our production business. What's changed with generative AI, we've seen the ability for computers to do things that we thought only humans could do. Produce images, take photos, create videos, write copy and poems - all of those things that our creative people do."

WPP could double the size of the business in India in the next five years, said CEO Mark Read, as he shared his views on AI, the hype around the technology, AI’s impact in elections and elections’ impact on advertising. In an interview with Storyboard18, Read also spoke about India on the global stage: “India is the world’s most populous country, the world’s fifth biggest economy, heading to be the world’s third biggest economy. In a time of some turmoil in global relations, it is great to see India taking a lead.”

Havas Play inks strategic partnership with sports marketing agency, Gameplan Sports

The partnership will entail managing athletes, major sports league in cricket, football, badminton, kabaddi, tennis, table tennis, golf, marathons, chess, and others. Pictured: (L to R) Jeet Banerjee, Rana Barua, and Mohit Joshi.

Jeet Banerjee, director, Gameplan Sports and R Venkatsubramanian, president – investments, Havas Media India and MD, Havas Play will collaborate to construct and build this strategic alliance.