Euro’s Vikas Kumar moves to Ambience Publicis as V-P

Vikas Kumar, vice-president, Euro RSCG, has moved on after two and a half years with the agency. He has joined Ambience Publicis as vice-president and will report to Ambience’s COO, Rajiv Sabnis. In addition to his other responsibilities, he will be the profit centre head of one of Ambience’s three business groups.

Sabnis remarks on Kumar’s appointment, “Kumar will be a change agent in Ambience Publicis and not just a profit centre head. He will play a vital role in creating a larger, more vibrant and globally networked agency as Ambience transits into the Publicis Network.”

Sabnis adds that Kumar’s extensive marketing and sales background will bring a fresh perspective to Ambience’s business and clients. “In Kumar, we see the right combination of youth and experience and his varied interests outside his professional life make him an interesting person to work with and learn from,” says Sabnis.

Kumar feels that while he enjoyed his time at Euro RSCG, working with Ishan Raina and Suman Srivastava, he had to move on. “I was getting too comfortable at Euro!” he says. “I needed a fresh set of challenges. I was also looking for a role that went beyond just a job and where I would get a chance to create an organisation.”

He had discussions with Sabnis and Ambience’s managing director, Nakul Chopra, and felt that the time was ripe for him to join the agency, as it was moving into a phase of aggressive growth.

At Ambience, Kumar will be in charge of driving growth for several brands, including Nerolac Paints, Sansui Electronics, the UB Group, ICICI Bank, Kama Sutra, HIT Aerosols, Emami Healthcare, VIP Carlton Luggage and HDFC Mutual Funds.

Prior to advertising, Kumar was an entrepreneur in the fashion industry – he owned a chain of boutiques. Four years later, in 1991, he pursued an MMS from the Sydenham Institute. He went on to start a career in marketing with an eight-year stint at Blowplast, followed by Wipro and Reliance Infocomm (where he helped launch colour handsets in a tie-up with filmmaker Rakesh Roshan for the film, ‘Koi… Mil Gaya’).

He became an adman in 2003 with Euro RSCG and he has worked on over 40 brands there, including Globus and Great Offshore, as well as launched campaigns for HDFC Bank and SET Max. He also did the campaign for the transformation of Jassi of ‘Jassi Jaissi Koi Nahin’. He played a role in the launch campaign of the all-new SAB TV after it was acquired by SET.

© 2006 agencyfaqs!