DDB Mudra Group beefs up top management team

DDB Mudra Group, today announced the appointment of Vineet Gupta, Managing Director, 22feet Tribal Worldwide as Chief Digital Officer and Aditya Kanthy, National Planning Head, DDB Mudra Group as Chief Strategy Officer. Vineet and Aditya will be reporting directly to Madhukar Kamath, Group CEO & MD.

"In our endeavour to partner our clients towards profitable growth, we have observed that every aspect of the DDB Mudra Group's work from brand building to promotions design, from developing media strategies to event management is being transformed. These appointments recognize the strategic importance of data and digital technologies to our business. Vineet and Aditya will now work with me alongside Sathyamurthy Namakkal, President, DDB MudraMax Media and my other senior colleagues to build the organization for a future where business results, data and digital are at the heart of creativity, strategy and execution.” said Madhukar Kamath.

A St. Stephen’s and MICA alumnus, Aditya Kanthy, has spent 15 years with the DDB Mudra Group. During his journey from an Account Executive to the National Planning Head, Aditya has worked closely with Madhukar Kamath in transforming Mudra from a mere Advertising Agency to one of India's largest Marketing Services Group.

He has been featured in the Business World cover story on the ‘Best and Brightest in Indian Advertising’. He has contributed to building the agency’s reputation for creativity and effectiveness with over a dozen wins across categories at various awards and industry forums.

Quoting on his new role, Aditya Kanthy said, "Digital technologies are transforming every aspect of our client's business from brand building to buying. I'm looking forward to help build the DDB Mudra Group for the future, where Data and Digital are at the heart of creativity and strategy. We're already seeing glimpses of this in the composition, structure and work of our teams that are partnering J&J, Royal Enfield, VW, Future group, SAP and USL among others. As a Group, we are constantly exploring new ways of working together and learning new skills. It's a massive opportunity and we're ready to take it."

A passionate Digital Marketer, Vineet Gupta, has close to a decade of experience in the Marketing & Media space. As the Managing Director at 22feet Tribal Worldwide, he has been responsible for spearheading the aggressive growth plans and in consolidating 22feet Tribal Worldwide’ s position as the leading Digital Marketing solutions company in India.

Before establishing 22feet Tribal Worldwide, Vineet was the India Marketing Lead for Microsoft Advertising wherein he led the initiative of driving and maintaining Market & Brand leadership for Microsoft’s B2B brand i.e. Microsoft Digital Advertising Solutions, as well as B2C brands such as MSN & Windows Live (Hotmail, Messenger, Spaces). He has also been associated with Star TV and Café Coffee Day in his earlier stints.

Vineet Gupta, who will be taking up his new role as Chief Digital Officer, DDB Mudra Group in addition to his existing position as Managing Director, 22feet Tribal Worldwide said, "Data & Digital offer tremendous growth opportunities for our own business and for our clients. I look forward to collaborating with teams across the DDB Mudra Group to help identify and strategically scale these opportunities. The DDB Mudra Group is well poised to offer a strong and differentiated point of view and I am excited."

Also joining DDB Mudra Group is an industry veteran and OOH specialist, Gour Gupta. He takes over DDB MudraMax's portfolio of OOH, Events & Experiential as its CEO. Gour will also be an Executive Director of the DDB Mudra Group.

A Jadavpur University graduate, Gour has over 2 decades of experience in the industry. In the past, he has been the founder of two very successful OOH Agencies. He helped set up Kinetic (erstwhile Portland, a WPP OOH Agency) and went on to become its Country Head. He then co-founded Platinum OOH with Sam Balsara. Under Gour’s leadership, Platinum became one of the most profitable and fastest growing company in Madison World.

Gour Gupta, who as the Head of Ignite Mudra, one of India’s fastest growing OOH Agencies, has already built a very successful JV for the DDB Mudra Group said, "DDB Mudra Group is truly a well-diversified Marketing Services Group. The growth plans for the OOH, Events & Experiential businesses are both interesting and challenging. In Sanjay Shukla, the President in DDB MudraMax, I have a very able ally. I look forward to leading a very strong and committed team that is already in place. This is one journey that I will cherish."

Madhukar Kamath added "Gour Gupta started his agency career with Mudra. I am thrilled to welcome him as the ED of the DDB Mudra Group and the CEO of our OOH, Events & Experiential businesses. He has been a wonderful partner in our Joint Venture. With the entrepreneurial zeal and experience of Gour in the OOH business and with the proven expertise of Sanjay Shukla in the Events and Experiential space, DDB MudraMax will be a formidable agency to reckon with. Welcome Gour.”