JWT's Mohit Hira named CEO for Hungama Digital Services

Hungama Digital Services (HDS), a digital and promotions marketing unit now majority owned by WPP's media agency JWT, has appointed Mohit Hira, senior vice president and head (digital) at JWT India, as its first CEO.

It was previously a part of Mumbai-based Hungama Digital Media Entertainment Pvt Ltd. In June 2012, the WPP-promoted advertising and marketing agency JWT had acquired a majority stake in HDS for an undisclosed amount.

Hira was a director at HDS till now in a dual role within JWT. In the new role, Hira will head operations for both Hungama Digital and JWT Digital, and will continue to report to JWT South Asia CEO Colvyn Harris.

A graduate of INSEAD (Singapore) and IIM Ahmedabad, Hira is currently the regional business director at JWT India and is responsible for one of its large clients Airtel. Prior to this, he was CMO (career building solutions) at NIIT Ltd. Previously he was director at Times Internet Ltd of the Times of India Group. In the past, he also worked at Contract Advertising and OHI-DDB (Muscat).

HDS helps brands build awareness, engagement and loyalty, using campaigns, online media planning/buying and website design. The firm has partnered with over 350 brands, including Coca Cola, Nokia, MasterCard, ICICI Bank, Axe, Nike, Bacardi and Cadbury.

It also owns Bollywood Hungama (formerly IndiaFM.com), a Bollywood & music site. The site claims to attract 7 million unique visitors, across 127 countries, and has over 100 million page views each month.

(Edited by Joby Puthuparampil Johnson)