MUMBAI: Integrated marketing solutions agency Cheil India has appointed Sonal Narain as its chief strategy officer.

Narain comes to Cheil from Ogilvy Singapore, where she was head of planning. Additionally, she is also head of Ogilvy Change (the firm’s Behavioural Sciences practice).

She will be based in Cheil’s Gurgaon office, which is the regional headquarters for South-West Asia.

At Ogilvy, she has been driving an organisation-wide agenda for effectiveness that has resulted in over 20 wins at all major awards at local, regional and international shows. She was also awarded Planner of the Year 2014 in Singapore.

Cheil South-West Asia group president Shiv Sethuraman said, “Sonal understands the intersection between media, technology and popular culture and has done impressive work in areas far beyond the limits of conventional advertising. That is what makes her the perfect choice to lead Cheil India’s planning and strategy function. We’re aiming to transition into an agency that is ahead of the curve and Sonal will be a big part of that. She understands technology but at the core, it’s her understanding of human behaviour and her focus on effectiveness that set her apart.”

Narain added, “The opportunity to marry human insight with technology and create fundamental change only comes along once in a while and few agencies are as well placed to take advantage of this as Cheil India is. As a dynamic and young organisation that’s shown steady growth in both size and reputation, Cheil seeks to up the ante and I'm hugely excited to be part of that.”