Navroze Dhondy to spearhead Percept IMC

Moving on from the post of CEO, Percept Advertising, Navroze Dhondy has donned the mantle of director, strategy & ‘innovision', Percept Integrated Marketing Communication (IMC). agencyfaqs! readers would recall that almost a month ago, Rajesh Pant, ex-Sony Entertainment Television (SET), had joined Percept Advertising as chief operating officer. However, at that time, Dhondy's new role had not been spelt out. In his new role, Dhondy - who will continue to operate from the Delhi branch - will spearhead ‘brand innovision', the new thrust in Percept IMC's strategy.

Explaining the concept of ‘brand innovision', Dhondy, who has completed a two-and-a-half-year tenure at Percept, says, "It is about making brands come alive with high energy and long-term ideas that evolve from the brand's personality, and involve the user in an interesting way. And IMC Percept will offer a combination of its services to suit brand requirements."

In the process of ensuring a right fit for brands, Dhondy will overlook the operations of all the divisions under Percept IMC. These divisions, which cover the entire gamut of communications under the IMC conglomerate, are: Percept D'Mark, Web Percept, TygerMEN, Tyger Productions, Percept Profile, Percept Somar, Carat Integra, Media House and Infinity Media Percept Services.

Senior executives at Percept IMC insist that these developments will spur the growth of the company. Shailendra Singh, joint managing director, Percept IMC, is confident that Dhondy will get ‘brand innovision' off the ground "in double-quick time". And Harindra Singh, managing director, Percept IMC, believes the new marketing thrust will make the organisation a one-stop marketing communication provider. "The time is ripe for such a coordinated marketing drive," he says. "This is one offering that most clients would be happy to have, ensuring a unique and effective offering for their brands."

Percept IMC has, in the past, attempted to offer an assortment of services to address various brand needs. A few examples are the Timex ‘Left Vs Right' challenge, The ‘Milo Moment' (branding any turning point in the cricket match as the Milo Moment), the Close-up ‘Sky Party' and the more recent LG Cup (where LG was the official sponsor of the series). "Basically, they were all simple ideas. And simple ideas are great. We are going to be more aggressive on this front now, because that is precisely what the clients are looking for," says Dhondy.

Dhondy is certainly looking forward to his new job, and is confident that the company will head in the intended direction. Probably his conviction comes from the kind of turnover Percept Advertising is giving. While he was CEO, Percept Advertising grew from a Rs 57-crore (1999-2000) agency to a Rs 125-crore (2001-2002) one. And in this time, the agency acquired more than a handful of businesses, including Arcus, Hero Honda (corporate and CBZ), Reid and Taylor and J. Hampstead.© 2002 agencyfaqs!