Publicis Groupe launches its Drugstore division in India

The Publicis Groupe has launched its Drugstore division in India. The division will foster mutually-beneficial relationships between large companies and start-ups which are in their early-stages.

The Publicis Groupe has already launched Drugstore in Paris, London, Sydney, Johannesburg, and Zurich. Its first Drugstore edition in Asia is now officially starting in India, and will be based in Mumbai.

Drugstore India will collaborate with start-up companies such as Zone Startups, to bring some proven and agile innovation programmes such as minibar, meet the makers, demo days, supper club, rapid prototyping, and incubator accelerator to capitalise on inventions and have radical outcomes in the process, products, and services.

The Drugstore India team will be led by Anil K Nair, chief executive officer, digital, L&K Saatchi & Saatchi, along with a core team comprising of Sreeraman Thiagarajan (Publicis), Parth Nagar and Aarti Samant (L&K Saatchi & Saatchi), Sanju Menon (Leo Burnett), Suryasen Kundu (MSL Group), and Swapnil Puranik (Razorfish). The team will function under the overall mentorship of Praveen Kenneth, chairman and managing director, L&K Saatchi & Saatchi.

In the late 1950s, Publicis Groupe founder Marcel Bleustein-Blanchet started Drugstore near Arc de Triomphe in Paris, to bring multiple brands physically under one roof, with the express idea of getting consumers to experience brands, and for brands to get to experiment with them in return.