afaqs! news bureau
OOH

MPG Active appoints Rajeev Luthra as business director

With 18 years of experience, Luthra moves in from soft skills firm IQ Ideas, where he was partner

Out of home (OOH) company MPG Active, part of MPG India, has appointed Rajeev Luthra as business director. This is Luthra's first stint in the OOH domain. He moves in from an Ahmedabad based soft skills firm, IQ Ideas, where he was partner.

In his new role, Luthra will be responsible for client acquisition and business wins. He brings with him more than 18 years of professional experience and has worked with companies such as ING, Reliance Communications, Max New York Life, Bharti and Tata Press Yellow Pages.

MPG Active appoints Rajeev Luthra as business director
On the decision to move into an industry that is new to him, Luthra tells afaqs!, "From all the data I've collected, I've learnt that out of home is a growing industry. MPG Active in the last two years has grown tremendously, with more potential for the future. My prime aim was to join an organisation that is witnessing rampant growth and is very dynamic and grow with it."

He adds, "Having mobilised great talent in the last two-three years, MPG Active is all set to take the Indian OOH industry to a new level and I look forward to contributing to the team here and becoming a catalyst in helping brands reach a new level of success."

Discussing the appointment, Raminder Singh, director, MPG, says, "We are glad to have Rajeev on board. His varied experience across categories and professional capability will surely help our team deliver better."

Ankur Rastogi, director, MPG, says, "We are quite confident that Rajeev will add a lot of value in enhancing our outdoor business."

Luthra will build short and long term budgets in tune with the corporate strategies, assess requirements and conduct negotiations for delivering need-based products to key clients. He will also direct interactive advertising/marketing/branding plans; leverage existing and new partnerships; and direct implementation, execution, schedules and new businesses pan India.

For the record, MPG Active is the OOH arm of Media Planning Group (MPG), a Havas Group Company. It has full service offices in Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru, Kolkata, Punjab and Hyderabad, with staff strength of more than 50 professionals culled from various outdoor leaders such as Starcom, JCDecaux and MOMS.

Some of the clients it handles include Capgemini, Reid & Taylor, Red FM, Air Emirates, Dainik Bhaskar, TVS Tyres, VLCC, High Street Phoenix, Hindustan Pencils, Fitness First, Wellspun, Orbit, Spice and Jaypee Greens. It also handled the outdoor for the BJP in the Lok Sabha Elections 2009.

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