Mumbai : Over 50 marketing, media and advertising leaders in India from Dentsu Aegis, GroupM, Interpublic Group, Madison, Onmicom Media Group, Starcom, ZenithOptimedia, Shop clues and Max Life are participating in “Squared” – an executive training program extended by Google India that enables advertising professionals to become digital ninjas.
The program is designed to impart the next generation of marketing, media and advertising leaders with digital, technological and leadership skills through hands-on labs and mentoring sessions with experts and mentors from the global advertising industry, including Charlie Somers Cock, Head of Global Talent – Impact International , Kunal Shah, Founder – Free Charge, Sapna Chadha, Head of Marketing – Google, Archan Banerjee, Head Digital Marketing – Dabur, Nidhi Bisht, Co-Founder, Director – New Brain Theater Volks, Atul Chaturvedi, Joint Secretary, Dept. of Industrial Policy & Promotion, Ministry of Commerce & Industry, Government of India and others.
Last year, 40 “Squares” went on to champion change in their agencies. For its second edition, the program will focus on using digital to create innovative and impactful marketing and advertising campaigns, with a particular focus on mobile, digital video and measurement. The two-week intensive residential training program is currently underway in Delhi and will run in Mumbai from July 11-22.
Punitha Arumugam, Head of Agency Business – APAC, Google, said, “Digital is already about 12% of the total advertising spends in India, and is projected to be approximately 30% by 2020. This creates an acute need for leaders who have the skills and expertise to harness the best of the medium. Through our intense focus on training programs such as Squared, we are empowering advertising professionals with deep digital, technical and leadership skills that will help them deliver powerful brand campaigns.”
Squared was first piloted in the UK, where more than 300 professionals from 60 agencies and advertisers participated over a period of time. India is the sixth market of Squared’s global roll-out following London, Singapore, New York, Hong Kong, Germany, Thailand and Indonesia.
Squared is just one example of Google working closely with the agency community in India. Programs like Planner’s Days, YouTube Bootcamps and Mobile Leadership programs aim to contribute to the growth of individuals and organizations. Over the past two years, 1700 Indian professionals have been trained in these programs.
