Hires & Promotions: VMLY&R, Shoppers Stop, Bolo LIVE, Gaana, Havas Group, Royal Enfield

Symon Hammacott joins VMLY&R as Chief Experience Officer, Asia

Global brand experience agency VMLY&R has named Symon Hammacott as Chief Experience Officer, Asia.

“Based at VMLY&R’s Asia principal office in Singapore, Hammacott will be responsible for driving the Customer Experience (CX) practice for the agency network in Asia, leading the region’s customer experience and technology leadership teams in the development and implementation of business strategy to support current and new business in line with regional and global targets,” the agency said.

In this role, Hammacott will be tasked with identifying and investing in new technologies and partnerships to reinforce and develop VMLY&R’s CX portfolio. He will also actively participate in Team WPP pitches and proposals as well as global new business proposals, whilst championing CX; driving culture initiatives and talent development across VMLY&R’s principal offices around the world. In his new role, Symon will work closely and report to VMLY&R Asia Co-CEO, Tripti Lochan, and Global Chief Experience Officer, Jeff Geheb.

Originally from the United Kingdom, Hammacott has spent more than two decades leading experience and technology companies, teams and enterprise-level programs for clients in Asia and across the world. A strong believer in transforming businesses through design-led change, throughout his career Symon has been instrumental in building world-class teams and developing market-leading products and services for companies across most industry verticals – delivering world-class experiences, mixed with a deep understanding and appreciation of local market nuances.

“Symon brings a wealth of experience and a fresh perspective to VMLY&R. He has a clear vision of how he wants to steer the practice in conjunction with our brand experience (BX) and commerce offerings, and his passions for sustainability and ethical design fit perfectly into our ethos of brands with purpose. I am thrilled to have him on board!” says Tripti Lochan, Co-CEO for VMLY&R Asia.

Hammacott’s role will help to support VMLY&R’s go-to-market strategy to provide its clients with the most relevant and contemporary agency offering in the market today, merging creativity, technology, and culture to create connected brands that impact the world.

Prior to joining VMLY&R, Hammacott was Regional Head of Experience at Publicis Sapient, a role he held for six years. Before this, he was a consultant in Experience Strategy & Experience Design for global creative agency, Isobar for more than 10 years.

With a passion for design that transcends his work life, Hammacott is also a passionate advocate for building ethical and sustainable design and technology practices, believing that good design can be instrumental in leading the way to global change. He is also keen on rescuing and renovating old properties and is currently restoring a 120-year-old wooden house on an island in Niigata prefecture, Japan, the agency said.

Commenting on his appointment, Symon Hammacott, Chief Experience Officer, VMLY&R Asia, said: “Customer experience is not only the future, it’s also the ‘now’, and VMLY&R has already made extensive strides in bringing best-in-class customer experiences to their clients. I'm energised by the prospect of guiding our immensely talented teams across experience design, technology, product and data in helping clients to firstly gain market-leading positions with their CX and then stay ahead through better operationalising those experiences. In this way we can create meaningful, transformative products, services and capabilities that provide genuine value to both the consumer and our clients every day, and into the future.”

Shoppers Stop Appoints Shwetal Basu As Customer Care Associate & Chief of Marketing & Communication 

Shoppers Stop has appointed Shwetal Basu as Customer Care Associate and Chief of Marketing and Communication with effect from 28th October 2021 to lead its marketing mandate. In her previous stints, she was associated with Metro Brands Ltd, Aditya Birla Retail Ltd among others.

Shwetal has a strong experience of close to two decades in customer behaviour, marketing, and communications, across multiple industries such as FMCG, telecom, security services, banking, and retail. She brings to the table a deep understanding of the consumer across demographics and geographies to create successful marketing strategies in sync with the brand’s vision.

Venugopal G Nair, Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer said, “We are delighted to welcome Shwetal as Customer Care Associate and Chief of Marketing and Communication. Her ability, leadership skills, and experience to provide creative and innovative solutions will add tremendous value to the organization. We feel we have found the right fit to lead the marketing organization.”

Speaking on her appointment, Shwetal Basu as Customer Care Associate and Chief of Marketing and Communication says, “I am excited to be a part of Shoppers Stop’s incredible journey. It is one of the leading retail brands in the country, that has evolved meticulously with the changing consumer dynamics and environment. I am eager to add value, consistently innovate, and ensure an effective marketing strategy in-line with the brand’s goal.”

Bolo Live Appoints Abhay Singh As VP, Marketing

Bolo LIVE has appointed Abhay Singh Kumpawat as its Vice President, Marketing to drive the next level of growth for Bolo Live. An IIT Roorkee alumnus, Abhay is a growth specialist for over 7 years and has played an instrumental role in driving early-stage growth and scale for startup brands like Mitron TV and YourQuote.

In his new role, Abhay is set to lead the entire gamut of Digital, Product, and Brand marketing initiatives for Bolo live and will play an important role in scaling the company's growth in new and existing markets as well as broadening its global reach. “Driving business value through real-time, relevant conversations between the content creators and their fans has never been more challenging yet exciting with the complexity and volume of marketing channels in today’s era", Abhay Singh Kumpawat, Vice President Marketing, Bolo LIVE said while commenting on the new role.

"An exciting market opportunity at the amalgamation of live streaming, microtransactions, and gamification coupled with addressable market size, a profitable business model, the founders’ vision, and the quality of young talent within the team is a great combination at Bolo LIVE. I am excited to take this opportunity and look forward to driving exponential growth at Bolo LIVE as we build the largest platform that democratizes monetization for content creators, Singh added.

Commenting on Abhay's appointment, Varun Saxena - Co-founder and CEO, Bolo LIVE said, “As we chase bigger ambitions, it is key to ensure that the growth and marketing strategies of the company keep pace with the evolving business. It is exciting to have Abhay on board as he brings in stellar expertise in the field of Growth and Marketing. He has a clear vision for the future of marketing and innovation and can build a strategic team to execute the vision at Bolo LIVE. Abhay is an all-rounder who also has an entrepreneurial bent and we do foresee that the team and the brand will flourish under his guidance.”

“We are currently ramping up the team aggressively and in the next few weeks will see announcements of prominent hiring across Technology, Product and Marketing roles,” he further added.

Tanmai Paul- Co-founder and CPO, Bolo LIVE said, “We are confident that Abhay’s vision and in-depth understanding of the consumer internet marketing landscape will translate into the exponential growth of the percentage of power users on the platform”.

Gaana Appoints Grofers' Shashwat Goswami As Its New Marketing Head 

Shashwat Goswami has joined Gaana as head of marketing. Prior to joining Gaana, Goswami was working with Grofers, where he was the marketing director for the company's own brands for over two years.

Even before that, he spent 11 years with PepsiCo, the last of which he spent as the president of the Lipton Ice Tea brand on the Indian subcontinent. Goswami began his career with Infosys in 2009, where he worked as a systems engineer for 2 years.

Havas Group India Appoints Shubhangi Gupta As Associate Vice President

Shubhangi Gupta has been appointed Associate Vice President of Havas Group India. Before joining Havas Group India, she worked as a senior director at Mindshare for more than two years.

Gupta joined Maxus in 2007 as a business manager, a position she held for more than three years.

She then moved on to work as an assistant manager at (the then-named) Star News, where she lasted for 1.5 years. She also worked at Brand Capital for nearly two years as a deputy manager.

She worked as the business director at Vizeum India – Dentsu Aegis Group for 5 months and as the media director at OMD India for almost a year.

Royal Enfield Appoints Mohit Dhar Jayal As Chief Brand Officer

Royal Enfield has appointed Mohit Dhar Jayal as its Chief Brand Officer (CBO). Mohit will lead the creative and strategic thinking for brand and marketing functions to curate and further cement brand love and associations in the minds of the global consumer.

Mohit Jayal has been associated with Royal Enfield in the past and played a key role in designing the blueprint for the company’s modern brand identity as an external partner between 2004 and 2014. The seminal work done during this period was instrumental in building a distinct and premium, yet accessible identity for the brand while positioning Royal Enfield strongly in the Indian motorcycling market.

As Chief Brand Officer, Mohit will be responsible for creating and executing Royal Enfield’s brand strategy and building a distinct, unique and aspirational global brand. He will also spearhead partnerships and collaborations with a diverse stakeholder universe, while curating unique experiences for customers.

Commenting on the appointment, Siddhartha Lal, Managing Director, Eicher Motors said, “I am extremely happy to have Mohit Jayal on board to lead Royal Enfield’s brand charter. Mohit is an experienced leader who has led high-performing teams and delivered some of the most memorable campaigns for major brands across categories. In his previous assignment as our external partner, Mohit has been instrumental in scripting the distinctly unique brand identity that has been central to Royal Enfield’s success over the years. He understands the brand very closely and is keenly aware of the unique aspects that are the essence of Royal Enfield. I am confident that under Mohit’s leadership, we will scale newer heights as we shift gears to ride forward on our global growth journey and build deeper inroads into markets and communities across the world.“

Mohit Jayal is a seasoned advertising professional who has created some of the most recognisable campaigns for category leading brands over the past two decades. These include campaigns for IndiGo's branding and passenger experience; global campaigns for Incredible India; a series of highly successful recruitment campaigns for the Indian Air Force; and most recently, the global ‘Make in India’ campaign. Mohit now joins Royal Enfield from his entrepreneurial venture Motherland JV Pvt Limited wherein he advised several of India’s current and emerging unicorns including Oyo, Swiggy, Snapdeal, Zetwerk, Magicpin, Rebel Foods & Chaayos.