Havas WW strengthens leadership at Mumbai and Bengaluru

Gaurav Soi (Mumbai) and Tiraz Balaporia (Bengaluru) will report to Shavon Barua, president, West and South, Havas Worldwide India.

For more than a year, Havas WW (erstwhile EURO RSCG) has seen several managerial changes. In a recent development, the agency has appointed heads for two of its branches, Mumbai and Bengaluru. While Gaurav Soi has joined Havas as vice-president, Havas Mumbai, Tiraz Balaporia has been appointed vice-president and office head, Havas Bengaluru.

Soi will be in charge of the overall business at Havas Mumbai and will also lead new business development. Balaporia, in his second stint at Euro, will now lead the Bengaluru operations of the agency. Both of them will report to Shavon Barua, president, West and South, Havas Worldwide India.

Barua adds, "Soi and Balaporia will play a key role in their respective offices. They come with very strong and proven track records of client relationships. I have known both for a while and am sure they will do interesting work for our clients."

Recently, the agency's Bengaluru office won Paramount Cosmetics and Mera Data, while the Mumbai office won some brands from the Abbott Pharma portfolio. When asked how crucial the effects of the name change have been, Barua replies, "Yes, our name change seems to be working in our favour with many positive changes coming about in our teams. We will soon announce some interesting developments in our creative structure as well."

Soi has spent 13 years in the advertising industry. He has worked on a variety of brands across categories including Saffola Oil and Salt, ITC Expressions Greeting Cards, VST, BPL Mobile, Frooti, Appy Fizz, Dainik Bhaskar Group, AUDI, Suzlon Energy Limited, Reliance Mutual Funds, Cox & Kings, and Fortis Healthcare, among others.

Soi started his career with Publicis Ambience in 1998. Later, he moved to Grey Worldwide and stayed there for about 10 years. He left Grey as AVP and client services director.

In 2011, he joined the newly set up Metal Communications as general manager and branch head, Mumbai.

Balaporia started his career with a company called Rhizic as account executive in 2000. He moved to MAA Communications Bozell in 2001, followed by Creativeline, Dubai in 2003 as senior account executive.

In 2005, he had his first stint with Euro RSCG as P1 Architect, which lasted for six years. During his first stint at Euro, he has handled clients such as HDFC Payment Cards, Emirates, Sanofi-Aventis, Bhaskar Group, BPCL Allergan and IBM.

Until recently (since 2011), he was with Bates as vice-president. There, he worked on brands such as Tata AIG, TVS, Fiat, Ashok Leyland and Park Avenue.