Ajay Ravindran to lead Strategy and Planning department at VMLY&R India

VMLY&R India has appointed Ajay Ravindran to the role of Director – Strategy and Planning. Ravindran will work closely with Saurabh Mathur (Head of Strategy & Planning) and Anil K Nair (CEO), to drive strategy and growth of the agency.

Ravindran’s mandate is to ensure that strategic thinking is at the core of all the offerings of the agency – across all verticals including Brand Stewardship (Campaigns & Content), Commerce, and Experience & Technology. Additionally, he will spearhead the Brand Advisory practice at the agency.

His last position was with Lowe Lintas, Mumbai, where he was Vice President Strategic Planning, leading the brand strategy mandate on Zee, PureIt, Unilever Foods and Setu. Previously, he led the same mandate for Flipkart, Britannia, TVS, Titan at Lowe Lintas Bangalore. He has also worked with Ogilvy, JWT, Grey, and L&K Saatchi & Saatchi.

Ravindran has around 14 years of experience across Media Planning, Market Research and Account Planning, and hence brings a holistic view to brand strategy. He has handled blue chip clients including: Britannia (Marie Gold, 50-50, Nutrichoice, Cake and Rusk), Unilever (Kissan, Knorr, Annapurna, PureIt), Zee Group, Flipkart, TVS (Scooty, Radeon), Titan (Skinn, Sonata), 3M (Scotch Brite), Aditya Birla Group (Louis Philippe), Tanishq and Gold Plus.

“Ajay will be working at the intersection of Brand Strategy and Technology, so that VMLY&R is at the forefront of defining how brands would need to evolve in this new, emerging, complex, post-digital world. Having helmed senior roles, Ajay will be a trusted advisor for our clients- current and potential – a responsibility I am sure he will cherish!” said Anil K Nair, CEO, VMLY&R India.

Ravindran said, “In their eagerness to become the agency of the future, I feel most agencies are forgetting being the agency of the present. At VMLY&R, I saw not just an agency but a holistic marketing services firm – with cutting edge solutions encompassing content, commerce and platforms. It seemed to me that it could answer all the questions clients are seeking answers to TODAY, but don’t know whom to ask.”

“But beyond all this was an X factor that escaped words – the palpable chemistry with the team, the richness of conversations and the vibe of the place itself. The more I interacted and learned, the more urgent was the question, “OK, so when do we start?””