O&M confers additional responsibility on Madhukar Sabnavis

Ogilvy & Mather (O&M), Asia Pacific, has given Madhukar Sabnavis, board partner, discovery and strategy, a broader role to play. He will now drive the research and insight function as regional director, Thought Leadership, and develop world-class thinking on brands and communications in the Asia region. This is the first time that such a post has been assigned to anyone at O&M across Asia.

“We believe that O&M in Asia has always been a thought leader in the marketing communications industry,” says Miles Young, chairman, O&M, Asia Pacific.

“Now, as the Asian market steps into a phase of rapid development, we decided to create the post of regional director, Thought Leadership. Sabnavis is the ideal choice for this task because of his track record in driving outstanding thought leadership projects within a highly creative environment.”

Piyush Pandey, executive chairman and national creative director, O&M, India, remarks, “Sabnavis’ contribution to our clients and brands has been significant and his insights have helped many creative directors to produce good work.”

Sabnavis will now join the board of directors in India as well as the regional board of O&M, Asia Pacific. He will be based in Mumbai and will continue to perform his role as a thought leader in India.

Sabnavis will work closely with Miles Young and the O&M senior management team in all the communications disciplines on regional initiatives, which are focused on the causes and dynamics of Asian growth.

“As India takes on increasing economic and intellectual leadership in the region, Sabnavis’ viewpoint will be particularly beneficial,” says Young. “Simply put, his brief is to capture the ferment of ideas in this region and distil them into actionable insights which will give our clients a competitive advantage.”

Sabnavis has been with O&M India for 18 years, of which he has spent the last four years heading the brand planning and consumer knowledge discipline. While doing so, he led Ogilvy’s 20-member planning group in India to build consumer knowledge bases for brand teams to leverage and initiated brand concept related projects.  

“What I am particularly interested in is understanding consumers and popular culture, how brands evolve and making connections between them,” explains Sabnavis.

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