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Sumit Roy takes over as director, Northpoint

Effective December 1, 2007, Roy took over as director, brand communications practice, Northpoint. He will continue with his coaching services at Univbrands

Popularly known as a “jack of all trades”, “man of the moment” and “the outsider within the ad industry”, Sumit Roy, the brain behind Univbrands, has joined Northpoint as director, brand communications.

Roy finds Northpoint a delightful “centre of learning”. He says, “Nestled in the hills of Khandala, it is easily one of the best training facilities I’ve worked in, in Asia. I am looking forward to starting a series of ‘learn-by-earning’ coaching programmes from there.”

He cites four reasons that made him join Northpoint. “Northpoint allows me to do four more things I could not have done as a one man show. First, running an ‘entry level training programme’ that’s priced right for the advertising and brand communication industry. Northpoint already has a successful one year postgraduate programme. So far, it tends to be seen as a Lowe programme, for Lowe’s recruitment needs. I plan to make it an industry wide programme.

Sumit Roy takes over as director, Northpoint
Sumit Roy
“Second, joining Northpoint allows me to start a comprehensive programme for middle level managers. Those with more than five years of experience, now ready to take the next step forward in their careers. I call it the Brandpreneurhsip Programme. Not only does the course expose managers to the latest in brand communication practices, it also shows them how to run businesses. What’s amazing about the programme is that participants can earn as much as Rs 1 lakh a month on case assignments, while they learn new skills that will hold them in good stead for the rest of their careers.

“Third, joining Northpoint allows me to start The Knowledge Compass Awards. This programme will not just recognise ‘new knowledge’ (in the form of techniques and models that the industry can use), but will actively spread that knowledge through books and workshops in a way that everybody wins. And finally, it allows me to coach other people who want to make growing people who grow brands a career move, well before they retire. It’s a career that lets you earn quite well while you continue to learn every day. I know that for a fact.”

Sumit Roy is the founder director of Univbrands. He has been showing people how to ride the brand communication motorcycle since 1987. Sumit learned how to build brands the hard way - 14 years with Ogilvy & Mather and 4 years with Lintas (now called Lowe) - before deciding to start Univads which later evolved into Univbrands.

Sumit started as a copy trainee at O&M but grew in what is now called account planning. During his stint at O&M he also looked after film production, media planning and negotiations, direct marketing, event marketing and public relations projects. Sumit helped run the Calcutta office as manager, client services. As resource planning manager at Lintas, Sumit looked after all their training programs, co-ordinated the strategy review boards on all Lintas handled brands and looked after Lintas' corporate planning, especially growth in areas beyond conventional advertising in India.

Sumit is currently a managing committee member of The Advertising Club Calcutta and was the chairperson of the first India Advertising Festival.

He is also the brand identity director of LocoNotion Idea Studios, a US headquartered group of idea architects that puts ideas into motion, worldwide.

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