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Aegis Media launches its digital arm, Isobar
Shamsuddin Jasani will look after the India operations and look at developing Carat Interactive
Aegis Media has been truly aggressive since Ashish Bhasin came on board. The media conglomerate, which earlier had its footprint in India only through its media agency, Carat, has already launched its OOH division, Posterscope, and now its digital marketing agency, Isobar.
Shamsuddin Jasani has been appointed senior vice-president of Isobar.
Shamsuddin has more than seven years of digital and mobile marketing experience in leading digital companies such as Hungama and Mediaturf Worldwide. At Hungama, he was business director for the digital division, and at Mediaturf Worldwide, he was senior manager, media planning and buying.
Earlier this year, Aegis Media acquired a stake in Communicate2, a Mumbai based search marketing agency, as a first step towards bringing Isobar into India.
Jasani tells afaqs! that his first priority is to set up the India division of Isobar, the initiation of which has been done through Communicate2. As Isobar acts as a central agency, which affiliates itself to other agencies, it is looking at other joint ventures, too. Plans are to get into other creative development, website development and mobile marketing.
"Next on my agenda is to develop Carat Interactive, a full service agency for online media planning and buying," shares Jasani.
"This is a big step for us in completing the Aegis Media offering in India. Isobar is the world leader in digital marketing and we are very happy that an industry veteran like Shamsu has joined us. Isobar's partnership with Communicate2, and now Shamsu's appointment, clearly drives us towards leadership position in this space," says Bhasin, chairman, India, and chief executive officer, Southeast Asia, Aegis Media, in an official note.
"Isobar in India will gain tremendously from having a professional like Shamsu. He will be able to add value across the various digital functions and we are delighted to have him on board," says Vivek Bhargava, CEO, Communicate2, who is also mentoring Isobar.
Posterscope was launched in India very recently. The media house also plans to launch its sports marketing division, Velocity, soon.
Isobar has more than 3,450 digital professionals across 104 offices in 38 countries and is rated as the No. 1 digital marketing agency by RECMA (Research Company Evaluating the Media Agency Industry).