The agency has seen several senior and mid-level people exit in the last two years. The new senior team has talent from both digital and media backgrounds.
Under the newly launched Ignitee, founder V Ramani will continue his role as Vice-chairman and MD. Newly appointed CEO Atul Hegde, who has earlier worked with agencies such as Euro RSCG and Vyas Giannetti Creative, has been given stake in the firm.
Hegde and Ramani had been planning to relaunch Connecturf since November last year.
Since April, as many as 45-50 professionals have hopped aboard. Among key new recruits are Ashok Karnik (executive creative director), S Dharmarajan (executive VP – online media), Sandy Pinto (senior VP – Mumbai), Gautamm Mehra (business head – search and affiliate), Somen Das (business head – Hyderabad), Arnab Mitra (business head – Mumbai), and Priya Swaminathan (business head – chennai). Harminder Kaur, who has been with the agency for a while, has been promoted to chief strategy officer.
Hegde said, “What is interesting to note is that clients have stuck with us. Our repeat businesses have grown by 70%, and we plan to grow our business by 200% by this fiscal. It will happen as we’re hiring people with brand-based backgrounds. They will bring in fresh thinking, unlike a lot of similar agencies who have people mostly with technology-based backgrounds.”The agency’s turnover last aims to grow it substantially by the end of this fiscal. Over the next few months, Ignitee will launch its operations in the Middle East, Hegde said.
The agency till now has been doing digital marketing and advertising for clients in sectors such as banking, finance, insurance, real estate, travel, IT and software solutions.