Percept merges MASH Advertising with IBD India

Rahul Gupta and Amitabha Lahiri are the MD and CEO of the merged business, respectively.

Percept, an entertainment, media and communications company, has restructured its advertising business as it has merged MASH Advertising with IBD India.

According to the company, the restructuring will enable Percept to offer better synergies, streamline operations and efficiencies between the two agencies, and provide a greater array of services and solutions to the stakeholders.

The company has promoted two of its senior officials, Rahul Gupta and Amitabha Lahiri, as MD and CEO of the merged business, respectively.

In his last role, Gupta was the founder and managing director of IBD India. Meanwhile, Lahiri was chief executive officer of MASH Advertising.

Though the announcement from the company has come now, the restructuring has been in effect from April 1.

Gupta had set up ByDesign in 1994 to offer strategic brand services based on superior creativity, and in 2007 ByDesign entered into a JV with Percept-Hakuhodo to form IBD India.

Today IBD India offers a complete 360-degree approach in providing brand and marketing solutions to clients. Over the years, Gupta has brought expertise to the many brands handled by IBD India including SSK Group, Panasonic, PNB Housing, Tupperware, Taj Group of Hotels, K Raheja Corp and Tilaknagar.

The company says in an official communiqué that going forward, Gupta's in-depth knowledge of brands and the dynamics within which they operate will enable him to continue to offer unique and innovative integrated brand development solutions and creative strategies for the many successful brands handled by MASH Advertising and IBD India.

Lahiri, meanwhile, has been associated with the Percept Group in different leadership roles for over seven years. He joined as senior vice-president, Hakuhodo Percept India and was later promoted to the position of COO during which Hakuhdo Percept witnessed a series of prestigious business wins including Wagon R, Grand Vitara and A-star from Maruti Suzuki, Carrier, Toshiba, Daikin, Unicharm, Sukam and Hindware.

In 2011, Lahiri became CEO of the newly incepted MASH India - a subsidiary of Percept/H, and within a span of two years attained a diversity of prominent businesses including Carrier, Toshiba, Haier, Philips, Kyocera Mita, DLF and Parsvnath. "His proficiency on a wide array of businesses will enable to take the newly merged entity to the next level of success," the company adds.