Facebook on Friday announced the appointment of Avinash Pant as Marketing Director for its India operations.
The role of Marketing Director will be a new one at Facebook India, with the mandate to drive the company’s consumer marketing efforts across the family of apps, including Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp.
Pant has 21 years of experience working with leading consumer brands such as Nike, Coca-Cola, The Walt Disney Company, and most recently, Red Bull.
In his last assignment as the India Marketing Director at Red Bull, he was responsible for building the brand in India, especially amongst the youth, through unique partnerships and content related to sports, music, and dance.
Pant is an alumnus of the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad. He will report to Ajit Mohan, Vice President and Managing Director, India.
The announcement comes a year after Facebook announced a new leadership structure in India bringing the company’s functions under Ajit Mohan, reporting directly to its headquarters in Menlo Park.
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Speaking on the appointment, Ajit Mohan, VP and MD of Facebook India, “We’ve been working towards deepening our mission to build empowered communities, form stronger local partnerships, create economic opportunities for SMBs and entrepreneurs to grow in India, and, to do our part to break the gender imbalance on the Internet.”
He further said: “Consumer marketing is a new strategic area of focus for Facebook and one where we will dramatically increase our investment in communicating directly to consumers. Avinash is one of the best marketers in the country, and am delighted that he is joining us on this exciting charter to shape the voice of Facebook’s family of apps in India.”
In the last few months, Facebook has recruited for key roles across multiple functions such as Marketing, Sales, Partnerships, and Policy. Consistent with the new organization structure, these roles have been spread across Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp.
(With agency inputs)