By Kapil Ohri
Digital

Cheil appoints Rajiv Malhotra as AV-P, digital

This is the first senior level appointment on the digital marketing side by Cheil in India

Cheil Worldwide has roped in Rajiv Malhotra as associate vice-president, digital, India. Earlier, Malhotra was head, online marketing, Makemytrip.com.

Cheil appoints Rajiv Malhotra as AV-P, digital
In a conversation with afaqs!, Alok Aggarwal, chief operating officer, Cheil Worldwide confirms the appointment and says, "This is the first time that we have hired somebody at such a senior level for digital marketing. Malhotra will head the digital marketing initiatives at Cheil."

Aggarwal adds that digital marketing is gaining prominence in the overall integrated marketing solutions offered by the agency. Thus, the agency is expanding its digital capabilities and will offer creative solutions ranging from search advertising, social and mobile marketing to display advertising. The agency will not provide digital media buying and planning services.

Cheil appoints Rajiv Malhotra as AV-P, digital
For the record, in December 2009, Cheil Worldwide declared that it has acquired a majority stake in the US based The Barbarian Group, a full service digital marketing agency. It also revealed plans to expand its digital marketing capabilities in the US and other markets. The Barbarian Group handles clients such as Motorola, CNN, Nike, Palm, Red Bull and Volkswagen.

Aggarwal says that the agency is ready to pitch and rope in advertisers who want to use only the digital marketing capabilities of Cheil, apart from getting advertisers who are looking for integrated advertising solutions.

Malhotra says, "I will be responsible for ideation, strategic inputs and integration of digital marketing in the overall Cheil Worldwide integrated marketing offering."

Malhotra has about 11 years of experience across the online and mobile domain. Of that, he has spent more than four years with The Times of India, where he had worked on the product development side for Indiatimes.com. He has also worked with Yahoo! in the e-commerce division for about two years at its Singapore office.

Cheil handles digital marketing creative duties for various Samsung products.

Have news to share? Write to us atnewsteam@afaqs.com