After 19 years with Grey Group, Subbaraju Alluri takes on new role

Subbaraju Alluri has joined communications agency REDHILL as senior director after more than 19 years with Grey Group, last helming the role of president director and CEO in Indonesia. Prior to being promoted to that role, Alluri (pictured) was group CEO of Indonesia and Thailand from 2018 to 2020. This was a newly created role which saw Alluri taking over from former CEO Monika Rudijono. In that role, Alluri launched in-house production arm Batey Productions and consulting practice Grey Voice lab, his LinkedIn said.

Before heading to Indonesia, Alluri was CEO of Singapore and Thailand. He first took over the Singapore and Thailand markets at the end of 2015, following Grey's acquisition of full-service independent agency NudeJEH in Thailand. He first led the Singapore operations in 2005 and boosted the agency's profitability by leading the team to win multiple major accounts. Prior to that, he worked at Grey Group Indonesia, where he was instrumental in expanding the workforce and winning accounts such as BMW, Indosat, Daihatsu and Wyeth. Alluri began his advertising career with DDB Chennai (India) and also worked at J. Walter Thompson and Rapp Collins. MARKETING-INTERACTIVE has reached out to Alluri and Grey Group for comment.

Last year, WPP merged Grey with AKQA to form AKQA Group, retiring the Grey name. The combined entity has 6,000 people in more than 50 countries and a blue-chip client roster that includes more than half of the Fortune 500’s top 20. It will provide a full range of brand experience capabilities across all communications platforms, strengthening the skills and services of both companies for clients.

AKQA first came under the WPP family in 2012 when the network bought a majority stake in a deal valuing the company at almost US$540m. AKQA founder Ajaz Ahmed and Grey Worldwide CEO Michael Houston will partner to lead the new group. The AKQA Group will launch with the AKQA and Grey brands, which will be integrated over time into a single company based on client and market needs.