Samsung's Abhishek Grover heads to L'Oréal

L'Oréal has appointed Abhishek Grover (pictured) as its chief digital officer, consumer products division, for the South Asia Pacific, Middle East and North Africa (SAPMENA) region. He reports to Shelly Chiang, chief digital and marketing officer, and Manashi Guha, general manager, consumer products division. Grover was most recently head of digital marketing group at Samsung Southeast Asia and Oceania. He was promoted to the role last year, more than two years after he joined as regional digital marketing head, mobile business. MARKETING-INTERACTIVE has reached out to Grover and L'Oréal for additional comment. 

According to his LinkedIn post, Grover said that his journey at Samsung was "immensely fulfilling and rewarding", and he was grateful to all of his colleagues for supporting him in his journey at Samsung. "Moving from an agency to a corporate environment, adjusting to a new culture and getting accustomed to an extremely result-oriented outlook took some work. But people made all the difference," he added.

During his time as regional digital marketing head, mobile business, Grover was responsible for data-driven digital marketing strategies and best practices for the region, covering social, CRM, search, eCommerce. Prior to that, Grover was with GroupM for over seven years, last helming the role of business director, global client solutions for Wavemaker.

In that role, he was the APAC account lead for the consumer packaged goods vertical, managing global businesses such as L’Oreal and Kimberly Clark. He also led cross functional team across media strategy, digital operations, digital content and new business development. During his time at GroupM, he also helmed roles such as regional planning director, Asia Pacific; associate director, Southeast Asia communications planning; media director; and media group head for Maxus before it merged with MEC to form Wavemaker in 2017.

Separately, L'Oréal appointed Vincent Ruaz as chief digital and marketing officer, media director, North Asia last month. In his new role, Ruaz oversees the whole portfolio of brands covering China, South Korea, Japan, Hong Kong, and Taiwan. Ruaz was formerly deputy director, brand and digital marketing for M1. He spent two years with the Singapore telco, joining in 2019 as GM, digital marketing before taking on the role of GM, brand and digital marketing. 

L'Oréal also promoted its Indonesia eCommerce director Ankit Porwal to GM for eCommerce, consumer products division for the South Asia Pacific, Middle East and North Africa region last June. Porwal had been in Indonesia for over a year and was responsible for building an omni-channel go-to market strategy and eCommerce acceleration for L'Oréal, his LinkedIn said. He also led a cross-functional team of sales, marketing, digital media, finance and supply chain operations. Prior to that, he was Garnier's regional marketing director for India and South Asia based in Singapore, brand GM for L'Oréal Paris based in Indonesia, and category head, hair for L'Oréal Paris based in India. Porwal also worked at Colgate-Palmolive.

Meanwhile, L'Oréal designated Singapore to be its headquarters for the South Asia Pacific, Middle East and North Africa region in April last year, naming Vismay Sharma as president of the region. L'Oréal was first established in Singapore in 1990, and subsequently set up a regional hub for its South Asia Pacific regions and travel retail Asia Pacific operations in 2013 and 2014 respectively. 

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L'Oréal promotes Indonesia eCommerce lead to oversee new SAPMENA region
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