Venkat Mallik to head Tribal DDB and RAPP in India

Mallik has worked with JWT, Leo Burnett and Euro RSCG and Unilever. He replaces Max Hegerman who left the agency a few months ago

BestMediaInfo Bureau | Delhi | January 23, 2011

DDB Mudra Group has found a replacement for Max Hegerman. It has appointed with immediate effect Venkat Mallik to head Tribal DDB's India operations. Simultaneously, he will continue to lead RAPP India.

Mallik majored in marketing from XLRI Jamshedpur over two decades ago and has since worked with companies like JWT, Leo Burnett, Euro RSCG and Unilever. More recently, he was Managing Director of an international online game company. He has held multiple board level positions and business leadership roles for over a decade.

Mallik's brand experience spans 50 different brands and categories, including leading brands from companies like Unilever, SmithKline Beecham, ITC, Indian Oil, Ultratech, Sara Lee, Van Melle, CavinKare, Standard Chartered Bank, HDFC, Tata Communications and HP.

Over the past four years, Tribal DDB Asia Pacific has expanded rapidly, from five offices to 18 spanning 12 countries, with 450 staff. In 2008, Tribal DDB was the most awarded agency network at Media's Digital Marketing Awards; in 2009 it was the most-awarded pure digital agency network; and also voted Media's Digital Agency of the Year by peers and clients. In 2010 Tribal DDB Asia Pacific was again awarded Campaign's Digital Agency Network of the Year and in 2011 was the Runner-Up.

Commenting on the new structure, Madhukar Kamath, Chairman, Mudra Group, said, “With around a 100 million Internet users, digital advertising is acquiring mainstream proportions and it is important to create a leadership structure for Tribal DDB which understands both digital and mainstream brand marketing communications well. With his background in advertising, brand marketing, online gaming and data and digital communication, Venkat brings a unique combination of skills needed to build Tribal DDB, as well as RAPP at this juncture.”

Commenting on his new role, Mallik said, “Tribal DDB is among the finest digital networks in the world and has a great track record in India. It's exciting to have the mandate to grow RAPP and Tribal DDB, both of which are leading global new-age agencies. We are looking to scale up both agencies quickly while leveraging synergies between them.”

In India, Tribal DDB has a blue-chip client list including Idea Cellular, Star TV, McDonald's, Tourism Australia and Emirates, among others.

Meanwhile, RAPP has seen very strong growth over the last couple of years with its new industry vertical focused strategy combined with its thrust in building new-age data, digital and brand capabilities. The RAPP client list in India now includes Hewlett Packard, Standard Chartered Bank, Johnson & Johnson and Tata Communications, among others.

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