ZenithOptimedia goes on a hiring spree to strengthen workforce

After bagging close to eight accounts this year, the latest being Nestle, ZenithOptimedia is now on a hiring spree. It has brought eight new professionals on board and is looking to hire a few more to provide quality service to its clients. Out of the eight new appointees, five have been hired exclusively to look after the recently bagged Nestle account.

Confirming this development, Ambika Srivastava, CEO, ZenithOptimedia, says, “There was a need to bring on board people who have a deeper understanding of a media service agency and also have experience in the field, which includes both innovative planning and buying.”

Among the significant new appointments is Sunandan Choudhary, senior vice-president, Universal McCann, who will now work as executive vice-president at ZenithOptimedia.

Another senior member of Universal McCann, Mohit Joshi will join ZenithOptimedia as vice-president and he will handle the Nestle account. Joshi was business director at Universal McCann.

When contacted by agencyfaqs!, Joshi said that he takes opportunity as a natural progression in his career. “The reason behind my joining ZenithOptimedia is that it is an agency with a buzz and essentially where all the talent is moving. It is a formidable combination of talent, management and clients,” he added.

Joshi, a graduate from IIT Delhi and an MBA from the SP Jain Institute of Management, started his career at MindShare (then the media arm of HTA), where he spent five years. He moved to Universal McCann, where he worked for three years. At Universal McCann, he handled the Nestle account.

Rajender Singh, who will join as a media director on the Nestle account, is also from Universal McCann, where he was operations director.

Singh started his career at Lowe (then Lintas), where he spent two years. He then moved to Grey (then Trikaya Grey) as a media group head; he was there for more than eight years. Before moving to Universal McCann, he did a short stint with Portland, the outdoors advertising division of HTA. Singh has handled clients such as Lever, Britannia, Johnson & Johnson, Arvind Mills, Procter & Gamble, Marico, ITC, Nestle and L’Oreal.

Following Mona Jain, who recently moved from Cheil Communications, are Navin Khemka and Sankalp Mehrotra.

Khemka, who was a media director with Cheil Communications, will join ZenithOptimedia as V-P, media. Mehrotra will join as a media director for the Nokia account.

Khemka says, “My work will entail setting up a total buying team with the help of Mona Jain. I will also look at setting up a specialist unit, which will look at areas such as sports marketing and Bollywood tie-ups. The idea is to adopt a 360-degree approach and present complete solutions to the clients.”

Another important appointment is that of Geeta Ram, who will head the operations in Bangalore. She will join as vice-president, Bangalore. Ram was earlier with Synovate and OMS.

Rishi Khanna will join as a media director on the Nestle account. Sometime back, Preeti Bhatnagar joined ZenithOptimedia as media director and she is also to work on the Nestle account. Other than these, another eight people are slated to join the team soon.

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