AJAY MENON

• Responsible for planning and driving Apple India's marketing communication across all customer-facing touch points, including advertising, digital/ social, channel, retail and partners.
• Partner closely with worldwide and local teams, inc Product Marketing, Corp Comm, Sales, Services and Retail to develop and execute in-market strategies aligned to Apple's global ambitions.
• Work with the Channel team to deliver best-in-class customer experience across all channels of distribution and ensure consistency in experience.
• Lead the digital efforts for Apple & our key partners, Amazon and Flipkart, to craft and deploy bespoke communications apple.com/in, social and e-commerce platforms.
• Partner closely with Apple's worldwide leadership in Cupertino to localise global work and strategies in line with local business ambitions.

Key highlights:

• Leading many 'firsts' for Apple in India: The first tent pole Bollywood Shot on iPhone campaign with a leading Indian director, the first digital campaign for MacBook aimed at Indian students, the first Social campaign for Diwali (Indian festival) on Apple's global Instagram handle, the first set of mid and lower funnel consideration campaigns for the iPhone aimed at Android users. These brand narratives were conceptualized and developed to resonate with the Indian consumer.
• Driving richer consumer experience at online and offline Channel: Developing and deploying customer experiences at Channel (physical stores & digital platforms), based on local insights, enabling richer, more compelling product story telling.
• Driving digital excellence on partner platforms: Creating bespoke communication solutions for key partners such as Amazon and Flipkart, to drive deeper consideration and conversion on their platforms. This effort entailed consistent A/B testing aimed at optimisation and efficiency.
• Richer customer experience on apple.com/in: Leveraging data analytics to understand customer behaviour on .com to optimise customer journeys, deep link key features and build the right landing destinations to drive campaign effectiveness and optimize marketing spends.
• Launched Apple's first Retail stores in India: Partnered with Retail to launch Apple's flagship stores in Mumbai and Delhi. The store launch was built around cultural art forms unique to the cities. Today At Apple, Retail's programming module built to deliver inspiration and education, was also an integral part of the launch.

• As Managing Partner at Ogilvy Mumbai (2018-2020), I co-led the Mumbai office with VR Rajesh (then Head of Mumbai, now CEO Ogilvy India). My role involved driving P&L, investing in digital transformation, running the talent & training agenda, driving commercial acumen & efficiency in agency remuneration, and delivering award winning integrated creative work.

Key highlights:

• Extensive experience in automobile category branding and communication inc Cars/ SUVs, Lubricants, Batteries and Tyres.
• Managed the Castrol lubricants portfolio for Ogilvy over 15 years. Led the core team that managed the hub for Castrol Motorcycles and Commercial Vehicles: The strategic thinking & campaigns developed out of Ogilvy Mumbai found visibility across markets including APAC, Latin America and Europe. Case in point, the 'Truck Aasana' health and wellness initiative, where specific Yoga aasanas (exercises) were developed for Indian truckers, was adapted for Vietnam and focused on jogging and light exercises, more familiar to truckers there.
• Built innovative, go-to-market 'Influencer Activation' formats for Castrol: Auto mechanics are key influencers for motorcycle and truck owners. We developed and built the first 'Super Mechanic Award' program aimed at supporting and incentivizing mechanics, giving much deserved recognition.
• Led and orchestrated a definitive shift in the Tata Motors business: From an intervention-led relationship to a strategically driven business, it helped us acquire marquee brands from the group, inc launching Jaguar-Land Rover in India. Part of the core team that developed and executed the Lionel Messi-Tata Motors corporate campaign in 2015-16.
• Also led the business for various other categories inc FMCG, Smartphones and social impact.

• Launched Lever Ayush, Unilever India’s foray into the Ayurveda domain. Part of the team involved in product development to developing and deploying an integrated communication mix for the portfolio including soap, hair oil, shampoo, cough syrup, headache roll-on and Ayush Therapy Centres.