Hires & Promotions: Gulf Oil, Zee5, Rediffusion

Gulf Oil appoints Abhijit Kulkarni as Chief Commercial Officer

Gulf Oil Lubricants India has appointed Abhijit Kulkarni as its Chief Commercial Officer (CCO). With over 20 years of experience across companies like Unilever, Castrol, and Coca-Cola, Kulkarni brings expertise in strategic marketing, brand development, sales, and general management.

In his new role, he will oversee Gulf Oil’s B2C and B2B business segments, excluding OEM, focusing on synergies and marketing initiatives. He will report directly to Ravi Chawla, the Managing Director and CEO.

Before joining Gulf Oil, Kulkarni served in various leadership roles at Unilever, including as Cluster General Manager for the ice cream division across Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, and Vietnam. His work included leading initiatives such as restructuring the Thailand ice cream business and launching premium brands like Magnum in India. Kulkarni’s experience in competitive growth, portfolio management, and team development is anticipated to support Gulf Oil’s objectives in the channel business and contribute to its overall commercial goals.

Ravi Chawla expresses optimism about Kulkarni’s appointment, noting his background in brand, sales, and marketing, which could be valuable in advancing Gulf Oil’s B2C and B2B segments. Kulkarni states that he is looking forward to contributing to Gulf Oil’s growth and working with the team to enhance value for customers, partners, and stakeholders.

Kulkarni holds an MBA from Symbiosis Institute of Business Management (SIBM) and a Bachelor’s degree in Engineering from the Government College of Engineering, Pune (COEP). His leadership roles in both Indian and international markets have given him a comprehensive perspective on driving business success in diverse environments.

Zee5 names Manish Kalra as Chief Business Officer of global markets

Zee5 has expanded Manish Kalra’s role, extending his responsibilities to oversee Zee5’s business across global markets. In his new capacity, Kalra will spearhead the strategic growth of Zee5’s global footprint, alongside India, focusing on international audience engagement, partnerships, and market expansion.

This leadership expansion aligns with Zee5’s vision of strengthening its position in a dynamic digital landscape by providing high-quality, relevant content to a diverse global audience. In his new role, Kalra will focus on broadening the platform's reach, enhancing user experiences, and boosting engagement. By utilising data-driven insights, he aims to optimise content relevance, advance brand and platform metrics, and bolster both subscription and ad-based video-on-demand segments.

With more than 20 years of experience in the online business and marketing sectors, Kalra has held key leadership roles across prominent organisations. Before joining Zee5 in 2020, he spent the last decade in roles such as Chief Marketing Officer, Chief Business Officer, and CEO at companies like Amazon, MakeMyTrip, HomeShop18, Dell, and Craftsvilla.

He holds a master’s in business administration from XLRI, Jamshedpur, and a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering from the Punjab Engineering College, Chandigarh.

Rediffusion appoints Rishu Verma as Head of Konjo

Rediffusion has named Rishu Verma as the agency’s Senior VP and the CEO of its new vertical Konjo– a specialist agency for startups. Rishu will be based in Mumbai looking after some of the Agency’s existing set of businesses along with spearheading Konjo by offering strategic insights and brand assistance to Indian startups and businesses aiming to advance to the next level. He will be responsible for overseeing operations on his set of businesses, driving business growth and nurturing client relationships.

With almost two decades of experience in advertising and marketing, Verma's last assignment was in dentsu Malaysia where he was working as an integrated client partner for two of their top 5 businesses namely, Toyota and Telekom Malaysia.

In the last two decades, Verma has not only worked with agencies such as Ogilvy, JWT, Leo Burnett, BBDO and Rediffusion but also worked with TATA Motors looking after the marketing of all its commercial vehicles across India. Some of the Indian brands that he has worked on are Cadbury’s (Perk, 5 Star, Gems), Vodafone, TATA Motors, ITC Tobacco brands and TATA Tiscon Rebars.

Carol Goyal, Executive Director of Rediffusion who also overseas Konjo welcomed Rishu to the agency says, “Rishu comes back to Rediffusion enriched with global experience. We hope he will provide leadership to clients at both Konjo and Rediff using his cross-category experience of many years.”
 
Verma shares, “The agency under its earlier leadership of Diwan Arun Nanda and Ajit Balakrishnan and its current leadership of Dr. Sandeep Goyal has always given me the opportunities to enhance my learning curve as a marketeer be it moving to the Client’s side or going international. Hence, coming back to Rediffusion is like coming back home. Rediffusion is an iconic creative company known for building some of the most iconic brands in the country and I hope to be able to continue the same legacy forward.”