Cheil India announces key appointments

Following Sanjeev Jasani's appointment, as head of digital, Sidharth Shukla, Mohd. Rehan Ali, Bani Kalra and Smita Khandelwal join the agency to further strengthen its digital team.

Cheil India recently appointed Sanjeev Jasani as head of digital. Following that announcement, the agency is making a number of key appointments to further strengthen its digital team.

Sidharth Shukla has been appointed deputy general manager- digital strategy. Mohd. Rehan Ali, Bani Kalra and Smita Khandelwal have joined the team as media director, associate media director and deputy general manager - digital media, respectively.

Commenting on these appointments, Jasani says, "Cheil India is already one of the biggest digital teams in the country, and we are preparing to grow substantially over the coming months.

The core of a great digital marketing agency is its people. We are hungry and keen to attract the best in the industry to do cutting-edge work. With these talented additions to our team, we are certain about becoming the foremost digital marketing agency in the country. We are excited to have them join our organisation and Cheil India can only get richer by their experience and knowledge."

Shukla joins Cheil from MRM, McCann Worldgroup, where he was national head- digital strategy and planning. He was with MRM for over six years and has previously worked at Tyroo Media, The Indian Express, TimesJobs.com, MacMillan India and KSA Technopak. Shukla has a total work experience of around 11 years and is an MBA from Amity Business School.

Rehan Ali was working previously with Reprise Media. He helped take one of Microsoft's key accounts to the global No. 2 position in terms of search performance. Prior to Reprise, Ali worked with Solutions Digitas, Madison Media and Webchutney. He has over nine years of work experience.

Kalra has over seven years of experience in digital marketing and her work has spanned web, mobile, social, SEM and content. Prior to Cheil, she was working with Omnicom Group as media director. Kalra has also worked with Starcom Worldwide and FCB Ulka on brands like HP, McDonalds, GSK (Horlicks), Danone, Monster, Aircel, Bausch & Lomb, Whirlpool and SC Johnson.

Khandelwal is a chartered accountant and CPA by qualification. She has extensive work experience in India and US, and was previously with Exponential Interactive, a provider of advertising intelligence and digital media solutions to brands across the world. She has also worked with AIG in New York and with South Korean Auto giant Solutec in Michigan.

Headquartered in Seoul, South Korea, Cheil Worldwide is one of the fastest growing agency networks in the world and also claims to be the fifteenth largest agency group by revenues (Ad Age, 2014). It operates in 40 countries with more than 5000 employees. Cheil and its affiliates include McKinney, Beattie McGuiness Bungay, The Barbarian Group, Iris Worldwide and Bravo Asia.