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Carat needs a brand custodian: C B Jenarius, Group CEO, Carat India
The advertising honcho, who moved to Globacom, Nigeria a year ago, is back as Group CEO of Carat Media Services India
Charles Berley Jenarius is all set to take over as the group CEO of Carat Media Services India on July 1.
Earlier, Jenarius was communications director with Nigeria-based Globacom.
Jenarius told agencyfaqs that his primary objective was to help Carat realise its full potential in the country. "My role is that of a custodian of brand Carat," he said.
"Carat is a world-class brand. But in India, it is yet to realise its full potential. My task is to help build the brand in the country, and towards this end, we will formulate plans and strategies."
Jenarius will be based in Delhi with regional heads Shripad Kulkarni, CEO, west/south and Sulina Menon, CEO, north/east reporting in to him.
For the advertising professional, who has 21 years of professional experience behind him -- having done time in agencies such as O&M, McCann-Erickson and Rediffusion DY&R, the forthcoming assignment as head of a media agency is indeed very challenging.
Carat has been through some turbulent times in the recent past with the exit of erstwhile CEO Meenakshi Madhvani in 2003, and significant businesses such as Asian Paints and Cadbury's going to rivals.
The agency did manage to get a grip on the situation under the leadership of Kulkarni and Menon.
Jenarius maintains that the two regional heads will continue being hands-on caretakers of the brand.
"Media is a specialized service, and there are people such as Shripad and Sulina to take care of day-to-day operations," he says. "My role is a bigger one..... to bring the brand alive in the country."
Part of the strategy to infuse new life into the brand is to see that the agency's vision statement is implemented, says Jenarius.
"One portion of the vision statement maintains that Carat demonstrably provides the best media services in the industry to maximise the effectiveness of the client's total communication programme," he says.
"Indeed, a total communication programme is what we are looking at, rather than merely focusing on mainline media."
To this end, his experience of handling multiple brands, turning around business operations and using innovative media, should come in handy, he says.
Carat's list of clients includes Philips, Adidas, Mattel, UDV, Pillsbury, Max New York Life and Dabur Foods. The turnover of the agency is in the region of Rs 500-crore plus. © 2004 agencyfaqs!