Surina Sayal
Marketing

Shubhranshu Singh appointed as marketing director at Visa

Singh, who moves in from Diageo, will report directly to David Fielding, head of marketing, Asia-Pacific, Visa.

Shubhranshu Singh, Diageo India's national head, customer marketing and key accounts, has put in his papers at the alcoholic beverages company.

He informs afaqs! that his next move is to Visa, the financial services brand, as marketing director, India and South Asia, with effect from August 1.

Shubhranshu Singh appointed as marketing director at Visa
In the last year-and-a-half at Diageo, (which owns brands like Smirnoff, Bailey's, Johnnie Walker, Captain Morgan, Guinness, among others), Singh built the customer marketing function from scratch and led a large team that delivered performance across the board in shopper activations, experiential marketing, point-of-sale transformation, gifting, category development promotions and capability building initiatives.

Prior to Diageo, Singh spent more than a decade with Hindustan Unilever (HUL), where he served at various positions including marketing manager -- deodorants and male grooming, marketing manager, Lakme Colour Cosmetics and Skin, and lastly as marketing manager -- household care, for the group.

Having worked in different categories, Singh has the experience of handling large, complex businesses in diverse markets. He made his mark with large-scale brand building and activation projects involving leading brands such as Fair & Lovely, Axe, Lakme, Vim, Cif and Smirnoff.

As marketing director at Visa, Singh will report directly to David Fielding, head of marketing, Asia-Pacific, and will work closely with the country management group, led by group country manager for India and South Asia, Uttam Nayak.

India and South Asia is a focus market for Visa Inc. as it expects significant growth in plastic money transactions in the next five years. The usage of plastic money is currently 2.5 per cent of the US$700 billion that Indian consumers are spending annually while the international average is around 9 per cent.

Singh will drive marketing strategies that will deliver effective and efficient marketing support for the South Asia region. He will represent global marketing, and assist the country teams to develop winning brand programmes, based on opportunities and consumer insights.

He says, "A significant part of the responsibility will be to leverage strategic partners, member banks, global and regional assets and resources to effectively build the brand and the business."

Singh will also manage the creative, media and below the line (BTL) functions for the brand in India. Visa has an integrated approach to marketing that combines advertising, sponsorships, promotions and public relations to create programmes that build active preference for products carrying the Visa brand, promote product usage, increase product acceptance and support cardholder acquisition and retention.

As marketing director, his responsibilities will also include leveraging new product development and driving innovation initiatives in terms of new markets, customer segments and product categories.

For the record, Visa offers consumer credit, debit, prepaid and commercial payments, which are offered under the Visa, Visa Electron, Interlink and PLUS brands. Visa Inc.'s headquarters are in San Francisco, USA, and the company employs approximately 6,000 people worldwide. Its operating revenue for the financial year 2009 was US$6,911 million and net income was US$2,448 million.

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