Pannkajj D Desai

• Managing overall business leadership, strategic and operational initiatives.
• Successfully building and scaling marketing and communication for top brands globally.
• Driving company growth, increasing market share and profitability.
• Curating and launching new initiatives like the Employer Branding and Talent initiative, Influencer Marketing, Social Media and Digital Marketing, Creative, Content and Events.
• Developing annual and quarterly business plans to evaluate cost projections.
• Refining organizational structure, leading operational oversight and budgets for 8 locations.
• Establishing and maintaining strong relationships with clients, vendors and strategic partners.

Honors

• Scaled up operations in 8 cities, Increased total team strength to over 70 people from 10 (between 2019 and 2023)
• The firm won several awards and accolades in the past several years including the “Best Place to Work Award” for the last three years in a row
• Ensured high retention levels for both clients and employees (over 85%) - among the best in the industry
• Doubled revenue in the last 3 years

• Focused on strategic areas that helped the business do better in India and in global markets.
• Set organizational goals to achieve mission fulfillment.
• Devised and presented business plans and forecasts to the organizational leadership and worked closely to execute the same
• Planned and executed new service areas and go-to-market activities.
• Managed financial, operational and human resources to optimize business performance.
• Consulted clients on business, growth strategy, marketing and branding, social media and digital marketing, communication (external and internal), launches, go-to-market, and business reorganization.

• Provided business, marketing, communication, and brand consultancy to leading clients.
• Managed relationships with clients across industries such as fintech, private equity, financial services, healthcare and pharmaceuticals, technology, manufacturing (engineering, textiles, and cement), consumer, automobile, media and entertainment.
• Led strategy, planning, marketing, and new business development for the firm.
• Managed and led a team of full-time consultants and freelance (contracted) staff.

• Devised and executed growth plans for multiple business units, managed marketing initiatives, and developed processes to generate leads, explore new verticals and acquire new business in India and abroad. Travelled extensively to build and nurture relationships with clients across MSLGROUP worldwide, including USA, Canada, UK, Italy, France, Germany, China, UAE, Singapore and Hong Kong.
• Spearheaded conceptualization, evolution and scale-up of the SBU called MSLGROUP CREATIVE+ between 2007 and 2015, established world-class capabilities, and built the team to more than 100 members to handle 24x7 operations for creative, design and digital development, including content development services for print, web and video mediums.
• Acquired international clients such as P&G, UL, Mexico Tourism, Imation, United Soybean Board, Kimberly Clarke, SITEL, GE, Home Credit, Sony PIX, Adani, Torrent, Shree Cement, Radisson, Microsoft.
• Controlled annual budgets and P&L, handled operations as well as general management activities, managed the PR business in the state of Gujarat with teams in Mumbai, Delhi and Ahmedabad.
• Led business expansion across Mumbai and Chennai for the SBU between 2004 and 2007 with a 100-member team, leading to a 5-fold growth in topline.
• Enabled competitive advantage and strengthened capabilities for global service delivery by introducing in-house competencies in new services, including mobile app development, digital video production and interactive infographics.
• Played a key role in enabling acquisition of Hanmer & Partners by Publicis Groupe, as a member of the core M&A team for Hanmer, and collaborated with the senior leadership team post-acquisition to implement global SOPs and policies
• Maintained team attrition below 10% between 2010 and 2015, compared to the agency and industry average ranging between 25% and 30%,.
• Only India leadership member to be selected thrice to attend MSLGROUP's Global Engagement Meetings (Paris 2011, Abu Dhabi 2013 and Shanghai 2015), to which only 100 people from the global network were invited. Maintained high retention levels for clients and employees, the best in the company globally. Won the Best Team of the Year award for 3 consecutive years (2012, 2013, 2014).
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• Boosted brand awareness, generated leads while managing internal and external marketing.
• Managed workflow between staff, coordinating documents, planning, creative material distribution.
• Worked with graphic designers and writers to establish theme and tone for content.
• Developed and implemented marketing strategies for launches, rebranding and promotions.
• Performed market segmentations, targeting and positioning for each product line.
• Conducted market research to identify new opportunities and target markets.