Dentsu Impact launches digital and CRM divisions

The agency has appointed Kartikeya Srivastava as head - planning, and Sanjay Pokhriyal as vice-president, CRM.

Dentsu Impact, the full-service creative agency from Dentsu Aegis Network, is expanding its investment and expertise in digital and customer relationship management (CRM) with an eye on the future landscape. The agency has launched the two new divisions of digital and CRM which will be strategically driven by Kartikeya Srivastava, head - planning, Dentsu Impact.

The agency has also roped in Sanjay Pokhriyal as vice-president, CRM. Pokhriyal comes with more than 17 years of experience in CRM. He has helped run multiple CRM programmes and implemented the right CRM strategy, customised for brands. He will report to Srivastava, and will help build the CRM division.

Amit Wadhwa, president, Dentsu Impact, says, "If we talk about brand building, digital and CRM are the two most important elements that continue to gain prominence. However, today these two are discussed more from a technology and process point-of-view rather than brand-out or brand-led. Dentsu Impact wants to seamlessly bind these two elements together along with the brand idea. This is the reason why Srivastava, who has been a close partner and has been heading strategic planning for us for a while now, was a natural choice when it came to leading these initiatives and building these capabilities further. We look forward to some exciting times ahead."

Commenting on the new development, Srivastava says, "The new responsibility is both exciting and challenging. Creative thinking and creativity can be given a new meaning in an ever evolving data-driven, connected world. Digital and CRM are great enablers in creating unified experiences and finding new ways to build brands. It is also a challenge because it requires change management, breaking of silos, and reorienting the way people look at these functions not so much as technology or process-led, but rather as brand and experience-led."

Speaking about his appointment, Pokhriyal says, "Dentsu Impact is the most exciting place to be in as it strives to build capabilities to deliver holistic and consistent brand experience for its partners. I am super excited about my assignment with Dentsu Impact and look forward to doing some path-breaking work to deliver a superlative customer experience."

Over the past one year, Dentsu Impact had been advancing steadily in digital and CRM capabilities with an idea to create in-house expertise that would help the agency own the idea better and provide holistic brand solutions to its clients. Meanwhile, the agency will continue to partner and work with other Dentsu Aegis Network digital agencies, depending on client requirements.