Gaurav Soni Email and Phone Number

- Direct support to the COO in crafting & delivering the strategic budget for FY 20-21 to the Chairwoman & Board of LMG for Centrepoint (CP) - LMG’s #1 business by sales turnover- Oversaw the holistic launch of CP’s flagship store at Dubai Mall (world’s largest mall by total land area & one of the most visited buildings in the world)- Undertook cycles of change management in two of LMG’s Top 6 businesses. Worked directly with the Chairwoman & Group Director while transitioning out the incumbent CEO & chartering and setting up the road map for the incoming prospective candidate.- Co-Led Lifestyle’s Store of the Future project (LS - SOTF) & redesigned the store layout & customer journey. Delivered SOTF at Mall of Emirates - #1 store out of 184 basis revenues with 25% more stock despite 14 Linear Meter reduction in space. Delivered 44% capex saving per sq.ft. Vs previous project of similar magnitude- Co-led the projects team for LS and delivered 20+ store projects over 4 months.- Analyzed LS’s store portfolio for the last 3 years and created and action plan loss making stores- Management Lead for Centrepoint’s (CP) SOTF project. Managed & liaised external design agency Dalziel & Pow (D&P) and the internal brands- Babyshop, Splash, Shoemart & Lifestyle.

- Designed strategic roadmap to revamp Fair & Lovely Men in India; resulting re-launch communication helped brand improve imagery scores and gained 2.4% share from market leader Fair & Handsome. Trained the Bangladesh client and agency team on strategy and communication planning, to ensure consistent delivery of brand message through ‘last mile’ execution.- Identified consumer insights to make late entrant Fair & Lovely relevant to consumers in African market (Kenya, Nigeria, South Africa); developed and successfully sold go-to-market positioning strategy, launch proposition to be unveiled in 2017. - Formulated brand key to launch and differentiate new Fair & Lovely facewash in Indonesia; conducted workshops for 20+ member Indonesian client-agency teams to transition strategy and ideate on market rollout across ATL, digital and on-ground.- Changed consumer perceptions and behavior on Freecharge (mobile app) from deal provider to mobile wallet through communication proposition of ‘Lo Do Khatam Karo’; closed gap on ‘Most Used Brand’ with leader PayTM from 33% to 3% (bronze at the Indian Effectiveness Awards 2016). https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r0NAHy5q17g - Co-Authored awards-winning paper on the long-term campaign of Fair & Lovely: gold at the Indian Effectiveness Awards 2016, two golds at Asia Pacific Tambuli Awards 2016, silver at the Asian Marketing Effectiveness Awards 2016 & silver at the Warc prize for Asian Strategy 2016.

- Won accounts worth INR 100 MN in annual retainers as lead strategic planner on new business development team, co-presented business proposal to win multi-agency pitches for Amazon India, Abbott Diabetes Care, UTV Bindass. - Identified untapped consumer need for late-entrant Amazon Fashion; resulting communication of ‘Fashion for who you are’ helped drive 150% growth in traffic to Amazon overall. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lEmw9pWvZaA - Managed Vice-President level responsibilities (2 levels above) on Amazon India account, led 10-member cross-functional team on planning, production, and execution of national campaigns worth ~INR 600 MN in media spends.- Coordinated stakeholders across 4 APAC markets and hierarchical levels to finalize and execute 5 national campaigns for Whisper Ultraclean; recognized by regional head of P&G business at Leo Burnett for excellent client management.- Drove new targeting and communication messaging on Whisper Choice through identification of the mother as enabler of purchase (ethnographic research), results include 3.6% share growth and 1/ 12 WARC Prizes for Asian Strategy 2012.- Successfully pitched repositioning on Sony Pix and AXN channels through analysis of viewership patterns and consumer patterns; helped Sony Pix move from #4 English movie channel to #1, AXN to reinforce #1 English GEC position.- Launched Tata footwear brand Tashi; drove differentiation in cluttered category through brand positioning, imagery, and marketing execution, delivering 73% brand recall in 3 months of launch and sales 44% more than target.- Nominated to intra-agency core team to ideate on and oversee Effie (marketing effectiveness awards) submissions, won 10 Indian Effie awards for Leo Burnett in 3 years (up from 0 in preceding 5 years) due to improved quality of entries.

- Part of the IMPS troupe (improv comedy) and have performed during Mumbai’s largest social and cultural festival i.e. Kala Ghoda festival, as well as been part of ticketed shows at NCPA, NGMA, Comedy Store etc.