Milestone Brandcom strengthens team in South India

OOH (out of home) agency Milestone Brandcom, after strengthening its West and North India operations, is now strengthening its operations in South India.

The agency has brought on board Ganesh Prabhudev as regional head, South India and member, executive committee; as well as J Prakash as business head, Tamil Nadu and Kerala.

Earlier, Prabhudev spent close to a decade at Ogilvy Landscapes. He was part of the early Ogilvy Landscapes team in Bengaluru and contributed in a big way to the success of the AOR concept in the OOH business.

Commenting on his appointment, Nabendu Bhattacharyya, founder and managing director, Milestone Brandcom, says, "We are extremely happy to have Ganesh, my old colleague, in the Milestone team. He is extremely passionate about his work and is an expert on the subject. His inclusion in our team makes us one of the best in the country in all regions. He will be responsible for the growth of the South and will play a key role in our management team."

Speaking with afaqs!, Prabhudev informs, "My mandate here will be to build the southern market and handle operations as well as business development." He shares that the agency is looking to build a team of five-six people in the Bengaluru office (where he will be based) in a year.

The agency has also roped in J Prakash, who till recently served as group account manager, Ogilvy Landscapes. At Milestone Brandcom, he assumes the role of business head, Tamil Nadu and Kerala.

Prakash has spent four years with OOH organisations Portland and Ogilvy Landscapes. In his last stint, he had worked on the Vodafone Tamil Nadu operation, alongside many other brands in planning, buying and execution. Prior to OOH, Prakash worked in PR and print and has about 12 years of experience in the media industry, eight of which were spent in OOH.

Discussing the development, Bhattacharyya says, "Prakash is an old colleague of mine and an excellent client servicing person. We are happy to have people on board who are ready to take challenges and be a part of our aggressive growth by creating differentiation in the way OOH is planned, bought and executed. He will surely add to our strength and exceed clients' expectations."

Commenting on his appointment, Prakash tells afaqs!, "My mandate is to look into the Tamil Nadu and Kerala markets, where I will be strategising, buying and also handle operations and the business."

He shares that for now, the TN team has three people, while the Kerala office is in the phase of being set up.

Bhattacharyya adds that Milestone is in an aggressive mode of expansion. Currently, its all India team stands at about 45 professionals.

For the record, Milestone Brandcom was set up by Bhattacharyya and a core team with the help of a private equity fund about eight months ago. The agency had, some time ago, signed an alliance with the Starcom Worldwide group to create intellectual properties in the OOH space.

The Milestone Group further set up Milestone LastMile, a retail initiative and is now looking forward to set up brand activation and sports marketing agencies in a few months.

Bhattacharyya says that the agency "has radical plans on the card to create disruption in the market place," and is confident of closing the year with Rs 100 crore billing, with 12 offices and a team strength of more than 60 members.