Dentsu Communications opens Kochi branch

The fifth branch of the full service agency will be headed by Saji Jayakumar. It will handle only account management.

Dentsu Communications, one of the four independent full service communication agencies under the Dentsu India Group, has announced the opening of an office in Kochi. With this, the agency's branches have grown to five in India.

While the creative and planning services will be handled by the Bengaluru branch, the agency's biggest in the southern region, the Kochi office will take care of account management. The branch, which currently has a staff strength of about half a dozen people, will service only new clients and will be led by Saji Jayakumar.

Rohit Ohri, executive chairman, Dentsu India Group, says that the agency's foray into Kerala is another step to create a full service network in the South. "We have a very strong operation in Bengaluru and this branch has also been servicing the Chennai office (which, like Kochi, only does account management). We wanted to leverage this strength by expanding to the entire region,"

he says.

Ohri adds that the move was also motivated by the fact that the agency had talented people on board and opportunities in the region that could be tapped. "So, the move to open the Kochi office was something that has evolved," he says. Although the branch does not have any brands on board yet, Ohri says that there are some in the pipeline.

Arijit Ray, CEO, Dentsu Communications says that currently, the Bengaluru operation houses creative, events, media and PR teams, and caters to three major clients of the agency - Toyota, Nissin and TVS.

The leadership in the southern region comprises Suresh Mohan Kumar, national planning head and Ashwin Parthiban, regional executive creative director (South), both based in Bengaluru.