Mumbai: Kedar Teny has been hired in the newly created role of chief product officer for Publicis Groupe India. In his role, Teny will help strengthen connectivity, scale expertise and capabilities for clients. The strategic appointment reflects the Groupe’s continued investment in India as it continues on its strong growth trajectory.

Teny will be overseeing and expanding on Groupe’s product offerings by tapping into its diverse capabilities across creative, media, commerce, PR, production, digital technology and analytics. Working in close collaboration with the leadership and strategy teams across businesses, the role will also entail designing business strategies that create value and drive long term growth for clients. He will report to Anupriya Acharya, South Asia CEO, Publicis Groupe.

A seasoned business leader with about 25 years of experience, Teny brings with him a strong expertise across both advertising and marketing. He started his career at Lowe Lintas where he spent a decade in various locations across India and Thailand. Subsequently, he transitioned to marketing and took on significant brand and business leadership roles delivering brand success at Unilever, Airtel, McDonald’s, and Sony Entertainment. His most recent stint was as CEO for Lowe Lintas India.

Publicis Groupe CEO of South Asia Anupriya Acharya said, “I am delighted to welcome Kedar to the Groupe. His strong marketing credentials across diverse categories in the most blue chip companies coupled with an equally strong understanding of the agency ecosystem make for a unique combination. Added to this, his affable and approachable demeanour made him the perfect choice for this role.” Acharya added, “Innovation and client-centricity is at the heart of everything that we do. And appointing a chief product officer at the Groupe level is yet another key initiative in that direction.”

Kedar Teny said, “This role is both a great opportunity and responsibility. And I am very excited to take it on. Publicis Groupe not only has a great roster of clients but also some of the best agencies across creative, media, digital tech and PR, a strong growth momentum and an amazing array of scaled and deep capabilities. I look forward to working with Anupriya and the leadership teams across the Groupe to create significant business impact.”