Hires & Promotions: All Things Small, Cars 24, Network-18, AAAI

Devaiah Bopanna Steps Down As All Things Small Co-founder

Devaiah Bopanna, co-founder of All Small Things has resigned from the company. As per some media reports, he may soon join comedian and Youtuber Tanmay Bhat for a cryptocurrency start-up.

Bopanna is the guy behind numerous viral ad campaigns such as CRED's "Great for Good" and Disney+ Hotstar's "#SiwaaySRK."

According to industry sources, Bopanna, who co-wrote these viral advertisements with former AIB colleagues Bhat, Vishal Dayama, Puneet Chadha, and Deep Joshi, maybe taking a sabbatical from ad creation to focus solely on developing a distinct offer in India's burgeoning crypto market.

Bopanna is a seasoned ad-man who started his career in 2008 as a copywriter with Ogilvy and Mather. Following this, he worked with Mudra Communications, Creativeland Asia, and Lowe Lintas before joining AIB as head writer in 2015. He co-founded All Things Small with Sidin Vadukut, Supriya Nair, Gaurav Vaz, and Sunil Doshi in 2019.

Star Sports' Sudhir Shukla Joins Cars 24 As CMO

Sudhir Shukla, the business's marketing director of Star Sports, has resigned after nearly five years with the company. He will shortly join Cars24 and relocate to Gurgaon, according to a source.

Sudhir, by the way, was promoted to Star Sports' Head of Marketing in November 2020. His main task in this position was to increase consumption throughout the whole sports portfolio.

He was Senior Vice President — Cricket prior to his promotion. He joined Star as Vice President and Head of Marketing and Brand Strategy, where he oversaw projects in Hotstar, entertainment, and sports.

Before joining Star, Shukla worked with Mondelez International as head-modern trade, CSD and away from (NCD) channel. He was associated with Mondelez for over 10 years.

He is an alumnus of XLRI, Jamshedpur and Vivekanand Education Society's Institute of Technology.

Rahul Joshi Re-appointed As Network 18's MD

Network18 and TV18 shareholders have approved the name of Rahul Joshi as the Managing Director. Additionally, Network18's shareholders voted in favour of Joshi's appointment as the company's Director. TV18 is a Network18 subsidiary that has a 51 per cent interest in Viacom18.

According to the business, the special resolution to nominate Joshi as Network 18 MD got 99.99 per cent support at the Annual General Meeting (AGM). Furthermore, 99.99 per cent of shareholders approved the ordinary resolution appointing Joshi as a director of the business.

At the AGM, 96.195 per cent of the company's shareholders approved a special resolution for Joshi's appointment as MD. The ordinary resolution approving Mukesh Ambani's confidant PMS Prasad's nomination as a Director of TV18 obtained 99.441 per cent approval.

Rahul Joshi was reappointed as MD of Network18 in July for a three-year term commencing on July 9th. Joshi is also Network18's CEO — News and Group Editor-in-Chief.

The shareholders also approved the consideration and adoption of the Audited Financial Statement for the financial year ended March 31, 2021, and the Reports of the Board of Directors and Auditors thereon. The ordinary resolution for consideration and adoption of Audited Consolidated Financial Statement for the financial year ended March 31, 2021, and the Report of the Auditors thereon also got the shareholder approval.

AAAI Re-elects Anupriya Acharya As President

Anupriya Acharya, CEO-South Asia at Publicis Groupe, has been re-elected as President of the Advertising Agencies Association of India (AAAI). Prasanth Kumar, CEO of GroupM India, has been re-elected as Vice President of the AAAI. On September 30, 2021, the AAAI General Body Meeting made the decision.

Vivek Srivastava of Innocean Worldwide Communication, Rana Barua of Havas Group India, Mohit Joshi of Havas Media India, Kunal Lalani of Crayons Advertising, and Rohan Mehta of Kinnect Media are among the newly chosen members of the executive committee.

On the occasion, Anupriya Acharya, President AAAI, said “It’s a privilege to be re-elected for another term as the President of AAAI and I thank all the AAAI members for placing their trust in me and for their strong support. This past one year, given the pandemic backdrop, our key priority has been to assist our members in navigating the challenging times. Our Executive Committee has been steadfast on this and despite virtual meetings, it made tremendous progress. We have also taken multiple initiatives to pivot to the new Normal, make the association future-ready and drive inclusivity. In fact, I am delighted to share that beyond creative and media, now digital agencies too are taking keen interest and are becoming full-fledged members of the Association. With the markets opening up, the EC and I look forward to driving these initiatives further.”

The Advertising Agencies Association of India (AAAI) is a not-for-profit, industry-led and industry-managed trade association of advertising agencies, formed in 1945, to promote their industry interests so that they continue to make an essential and ever-increasing contribution to the nation.