Tapan Pal quits Zenith Media; Praveen Tripathi to take charge

After three-and-a-half years at the agency, Tapan Pal, president and CEO, Zenith Media India, has put in his papers. In a prepared statement, the company has announced that the ex-Clarion (now Bates), Mudra and Discovery hand Pal "will be leaving the company to explore other, personal options". The company has also announced that the next head of business will be the "well-known and highly respected" Praveen Tripathi, who has nearly 25 years of experience in planning, research and media.

Pal, who joined Zenith in 2002, a year after it set up shop in India, remained uncontactable all of yesterday. Speaking on his departure, Roland Crouch, regional head, Asia, ZenithOptimedia, said, "Tapan has done an outstanding job in building the business up over the past three years to its current position." Among its other clients, Zenith India handles the media duties of Hyundai Motors, Nokia, LML and Hatsun.

On his part, Praveen Tripathi is currently with Starcom China, and is based in Guangzhou. He is strategic planning director on P&G, Greater China, and a member of the Publicis Group Global Media Team for P&G. In his two-decade-plus experience in the industry, Tripathi has successfully juggled media, advertising and research with the finesse of an expert, at times, rewriting history. An IIT Kanpur and IIM Ahmedabad alumnus, he joined Lowe as a management trainee in 1979, becoming its first media recruit in the process.

At Lowe, Tripathi was responsible for conceptualising and developing the first-ever computerised media package, LIN-COMPACK, and, at the same time, honing his client servicing skills with Lever brands Liril, Rexona and Sunlight. He was eventually appointed account supervisor for all Lipton brands at the agency's Kolkata office in 1983, before opting out in 1986.

His next definitive stint was at Marg or Marketing and Research Group where he spent 10 years from 1986 to 1996, accumulating a number of firsts to his credit. These included leading both the NRS 1990 and 1995 studies, establishing the first peoplemeter-based TV audience measurement service in India called C&STAM (now only TAM) in December 1995 as well as pioneering efforts such as the decision-makers media survey in 1987, children's media survey in 1989 and upmarket media survey in 1992.

At Starcom India, an agency he was associated with for the next 15 years between 1986 and 2001, Tripathi successfully led the pitch for all P&G media planning business in India in December 1999, and was responsible for setting up a 12-member strategy team focused only on media planning.

"Zenith Media, like India, is poised to take off," said Tripathi. Part of the $19-billion ZenithOptimedia group, Zenith Media India is now a Rs 400-crore operation in India. "I am delighted to be coming back to Zenith India, and to be able to play this role in taking the brand to its rightful position in this market. In that, I feel that I am coming full circle, at the right time in the right place."

While Pal plans to stay on at Zenith till August end, Tripathi is slated to take over "in a couple of months". © 2003 agencyfaqs!