Advocacy Asia launches India Operations; ropes in Srikanth Sarathy

Sarathy will be the chief operating officer for the Indian operations.

Advocacy Asia, the China-based, word-of-mouth agency, has launched its operations in India and has appointed Srikanth Sarathy as COO. Advocacy, which started in China in 2011, has been expanding its footprint within Asia on the back of strong demand from its core clients. In September 2013, it expanded into Malaysia.

Sarathy brings with him an experience spanning 18 years in places like Leo Burnett and Walt Disney. He has a track record of growing and nurturing brands like Disney Channel, Ariel, Tide, Whisper, McDonald's, Thums Up, Philips, Johnnie Walker, HDFC Life and Tata Salt.

At Walt Disney India, he was part of the team that propelled the flagship Disney Channel brand from No.5 (and last) to No.1 in the kids' genre. During his 12 years in Leo Burnett (India and London) he led the agency's Mumbai office (the largest office in the country) and was part of several award-winning campaigns (for creative and effectiveness).

Advocacy helps build business and brands via in-depth consumer engagement, turning passive consumers into active advocates of the brands that they consume. This engagement is orchestrated (via a combination of technology and psychology), on their proprietary game-oriented online platform TAP (The Advocate Platform)

According to Asit Gupta, CEO and co-founder of Advocacy, "Clients are realising that 1,000 engaged and active consumer advocates have more reach and impact than one million passive fans. Our proven model, grounded in behavioral science, to create brand advocates is gaining increasing traction as clients get over the stage of collecting fans and likes. Srikanth is a great addition to our team. We did some great work together during my P&G days and I am delighted that he will be leading our India operations"

Says Sarathy, "It is exciting to lead the charge in India for real and deep social marketing beyond fans and opinion leaders. We are already working on some projects with a couple of India's leading marketers. We are now four members strong and looking for more talent."

Advocacy is focused on creating word of mouth via real consumer advocates and has created campaigns for leading companies like Reckitt Benckiser, Procter & Gamble, Unilever, Johnson & Johnson, Kimberley Clark, Fonterra and Coca-Cola. Its campaigns have consistently won global recognition.