Shavon Barua to head newly formed Dentsu Q-Pro

Dentsu Marcom’s month old employee branding communications venture, Dentsu Q-Pro, has hired Shavon Barua, associate vice-president, Ambience Publicis, Mumbai, as head of operations. Barua will be based in New Delhi and designated general manager, Dentsu Q-Pro.

A first of its kind initiative by Dentsu Marcom, Dentsu Q-Pro is a specialist division that will work in the area of recruitment and employment advertising. Beyond that, the newly formed division will help its clients maintain relationships with their employees through training and motivational programmes and other corporate initiatives. It is even considering taking on corporate image management in the near future.

Dentsu Q-Pro will service both Dentsu Marcom’s clientele as well as its own clients. It has already roped in Suzlon and HCC as clients and pioneered the concept of recruitment advertising on television with the launch of the Naukri.com sponsored ‘The Job Show’ on CNBC. Clients such as LG, Aviva and DNA recruited candidates live on the show.

“Employer branding and reputation management will become important areas of corporate communications in the days to come,” remarks Sandeep Goyal, chairman, Dentsu India.

According to Barua, Dentsu Q-Pro is an initiative that was long overdue. “All the clients that we have met so far are enthused about having an agency help them in this manner,” says Barua. The need is particularly high for BPOs, FMCGs and IT and pharmaceutical companies, according to her.

“There is a high attrition rate in companies nowadays and managers would like to retain employees as far as possible,” she says. “Employees, too, need to feel good about the company for which they work. That is where Dentsu Q-Pro steps in.”

Barua used to handle Lakme and Westside at Ambience prior to her move. “I have known Sandeep Goyal since my days at Rediffusion DY&R, where I worked with him and Gullu Sen. I hold him in high regard and when he presented me with this idea, it was natural for me to take it up,” she explains.

Barua started her career in 1995 at Clarion in Kolkata (now Bates Enterprise), where she worked on the client servicing team on Gold Flake. Less than a year later, she moved to join SSC&B Lintas, first in Mumbai and then in Delhi (where she helped set up operations). She worked on brands such as Marico, Allwyn, IDB and Hero Honda.

Six years later, Barua joined Rediffusion DY&R, where she headed the team servicing Colgate-Palmolive. She worked on the Colgate Gel ‘Talk to Me’ campaign while there.

Around four years later, she joined Ambience.

© 2006 agencyfaqs!