VMLY&R Commerce Encompass elevates Shankar Shinde as Chief Operating Officer

He earlier served as a Managing Partner in Geometry Encompass and was responsible for duties across rural, shopper and urban activation practices.

VMLY&R Commerce Encompass, the new end-to-end Creative Commerce Company of WPP has recently elevated Shankar Shinde to Chief Operating Officer effective from January 1, 2021. He earlier served as a Managing Partner in Geometry Encompass and was responsible for duties across rural, shopper and urban activation practices.

Shankar has around 20 years of experience in the field of Advertising and Marketing. Over time, he has developed an expertise in Shopper & Rural Consumer Insights, specializing in the FMCG, Healthcare, Agribusiness, Sanitation, and Finance sector. He also has a great amount of experience in working for start-ups, advertising, media & government sectors.

Spending a large part of his career working for Ogilvy Group India, FCB, Indian Express Group, BCCL, contributed to the acquisition of his expertise. He co-founded a Personal Care FMCG company, before rejoining Ogilvy in 2011. Over the years, he has worked on long term relationship projects for Unilever, Mondelez, Coke, TATA Motors, ITC, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Mahindra & Mahindra, Britannia, among many others. Shankar has also been a guest lecturer at the INSEAD Singapore Campus, IIM (Ahmedabad & Bangalore), NUS & SMU to name a few.

Commenting on his elevation, Ranjit Raina CEO VMLY&R Commerce Encompass said “2020 was a particularly challenging year for all of us, during the past year Shankar has played an invaluable role in helping lead the agency. His promotion comes at a very interesting time as we are embarking on a new journey with the formation of VMLY&R Commerce Encompass.”

Roshan Abbas MD VMLY&R Commerce Encompass said “Shankar is most deserving of the promotion and his dedication to the company and team is incredible. As commerce continues to grow and become a focus his experience will be invaluable.”

Recently, Geometry Encompass was merged into VMLY&R to create VMLY&R Commerce Encompass, billed as an end-to-end 'creative commerce company' that combines the talent and reach of both Geometry and VMLY&R.