Mumbai: Havas Worldwide India, the creative arm of Havas India, has appointed Kundan Joshee as managing partner & head – West & South. He joins the agency from Wunderman Thompson, to further strengthen and support the agency’s tremendous growth momentum, which it has witnessed over the last five years.
Kundan will be based in Mumbai and will report to Havas Worldwide India CEO Tarun Jha. He will work closely with chief creative officer Anupama Ramaswamy, and chief strategy officer Anirban Mozumdar.
Speaking about the appointment, Tarun Jha said, “Havas Worldwide India has been witnessing an impressive growth trajectory and the agency has entirely restructured its leadership team to support this rapid expansion. Kundan is a seasoned industry professional, with a great track record of building businesses and managing large outfits. He will be a natural fit in our ambitious senior leadership team of Anupama, Anirban and Jaibeer Ahmad, managing partner – North and East. With Jaibeer helming the North and East India markets, Kundan’s addition will help us drive value, optimise revenue, and expand the ever-growing client portfolio of Havas Worldwide India as he takes the reigns of our business in the west and south regions. We all welcome him aboard and look forward to him making a meaningful difference to the brands that we lovingly nurture.”
Kundan will oversee Havas Worldwide India’s West and South India operations, which handles some marquee clients including Citroën, Britannia The Laughing Cow, JBL, Celio, Tata CLiQ Luxury, among others. His appointment comes at a time when the agency has undergone a complete transformation and has strengthened its creative product and strategy teams through a series of key appointments and marquee new business wins. Most recently, Havas Worldwide India was named the agency on record for clutter-breaking consumer products giant Mamaearth.
With nearly 25 years of experience in the advertising industry and stints at Wunderman Thompson, Ogilvy, FCB, Cheil Worldwide and Grey Group, Kundan’s expertise lies in brand-building while pushing the boundaries of creativity. A master in the art of handling large-scale brands with an extensive global and national footprint, Kundan brings a wealth of knowledge to his new role. Some notable brands he has worked with include Vodafone, Pepsi, Samsung, Wipro, Whirlpool, Sony, Max and Lifestyle Fashion, and United Breweries, among others. By leveraging his profound industry knowledge and insights, he will build and maintain positive client relationships and drive new business, aligned to the overarching Havas ethos of building meaningful brands that have a lasting impact on consumers for the better.
Kundan Joshee said, “The collaborative spirit of Havas and its employees is one of the first things that drew me to the agency—it is infectious, it is exciting, and it is very unique. The ‘Village’ model of integration is conceptually something that our industry has been striving towards but to see it in action—and now be a part of it—is something that I look forward to.”
He added, “I am thrilled to be joining Havas Worldwide India at such an interesting juncture in the agency’s ascent. My hope is to leverage my learnings to add value to our clients' businesses and foster genuine and positive client relationships, on the back of the integration model and some truly impactful work.”
