Naresh Gupta joins Dentsu Marcom as director, strategy and planning

Last week, Gupta quit Publicis India, where he was national planning head

Naresh Gupta has found himself a new home. He has joined Dentsu Marcom as director, strategy and planning, a specially created position in the agency.

According to Gupta, the day media reported his exit from Publicis, Sandeep Goyal, chairman, Dentsu India, called him up and offered him this role, which he quickly accepted. Gupta had quit Publicis India last week, where he was national planning head. Even at Dentsu Marcom, his role will be a national one. He will report to Rajesh Aggarwal, president, Dentsu India.

He moves in from Publicis India, where he left as national planning head. He had joined the agency in 2008 as executive vice-president, strategic planning.

Gupta essentially began his career in research with Mudra's research agency Samir in 1988. In 1991, he took up a role in marketing - he joined Maharaja International as marketing services manager. In 1993, he joined Jagajit Industries as product manager on the liquor brands where he worked till 1995.

Advertising came his way in 1996, when he took up a planning role in MAA Bozell. Three years later, he joined Contract Advertising as an account director, planning. His stint at Contract lasted for about a year.

In 2002, he hopped over to Grey as account director and stayed with the agency for about eight years. He moved out of the agency as head, planning, South Asia for Grey India.

Gupta has several awards to his credit, including the Euro Effie for the Incredible India campaign; the APAC Effie for Nokia; the Asian Marketing Effectiveness awards for Samsung Cup; and the Thought Leadership award for the APAC region at Grey for the study called Puppet Kings.

Some of the accounts that he has worked on in his career include Incredible India, Hyundai Accent, Samsung Appliances, Vimal, Parle-G, Hewlett Packard (HP) and Maggi.