MUMBAI, INDIA — Carat India, the media agency from the house of dentsu India, has strengthened its leadership team for North and East. The agency has appointed Aruni Panda to lead these regions as Vice President – Digital.
In his new role, Aruni will lead strategic thinking and oversee agency clients on the digital front, reporting into Anita Kotwani, CEO, Carat India. He will work closely with the office head of the regions – Dipika Bhasin, Executive Vice President – Planning, Carat India.
Aruni brings over 15 years of experience and is an ardent practitioner of AdTech Tools, Programmatic Media Planning & Buying, Social Media & Content Marketing, Digital Customer Experiences Management, Customer Acquisition & Web Analytics. Prior to this, he was with GTB (part of WPP’s network of companies) where he held the position of AVP and Senior Digital Media Director, handling digital media planning, buying & execution.
In his previous roles, Aruni has been instrumental in helping brands and organisations develop effective & unique digital marketing ecosystems by an outcome-led planning approach for the brand and the business. Moreover, he has successfully re-positioned businesses as digital-first by setting up business-aligned digital ecosystems. He has also implemented and integrated seamless interplay between AdTech & MarTech stacks. Aruni has worked with top brands like PepsiCo India and Ford India, to name a few across categories like FMCG, Automotive, Real Estate, Entertainment & Sports, ISP & Connectivity Solutions, and IT-enabled Executive Education & Training.
Commenting on the appointment, Anita Kotwani said, “With the changing dynamics of the media eco-system and a strong focus on digital across the clients of Carat, we felt it to be imperative to bring in a seasoned professional like Aruni to lead the digital mandate. His expertise across the full-funnel marketing will be an advantage that we would like to leverage across our existing and new client fold.”
Dipika Bhasin added, “Aruni’s experience will charter current and new growth with our partners. He will hold a strong commitment to driving Carat’s digital practice and the integrated media offerings of dentsu India. We are extremely happy to have him as part of the team!”
Aruni Panda commented, “I am elated to embark upon this new journey with Carat India, an agency already known for its integrated approach backed by cutting-edge data tech and tools. It is critical to map, plan and build the right digital approach in this ever-evolving digital space for our clients to thrive into the future. I am looking forward to being a part of Carat’s growth story under Anita’s leadership and partnering with clients in their digital endeavour with the combination of media, data, commerce, and technology.”
