SINGAPORE–As the creative economy across Asia Pacific continues its path to recovery after the global pandemic, digital brand agency Bonsey Jaden adapts deftly to the shifting demands of the market. Backed by digital technology group CUE Group, the agency aims to strengthen its competitive advantage by building a diverse leadership team in conjunction with their growing client portfolio across Southeast Asia.
True to this strategy, Bonsey Jaden has recently appointed someone from the client-side to manage one of its biggest regional offices. As the new Managing Director for Bonsey Jaden Malaysia, Sagar Paranjpe brings with him decades of experience and expertise in building, growing, and leading several teams across different verticals.
Often, less-travelled roads can provide invaluable experience and unexpected perspectives, and ultimately fuel greater innovation and performance. As such, Bonsey Jaden believes that diversity should be a holistic approach, while letting go of the notion that there’s one ideal candidate for a role. This is one of the many reasons why joining Bonsey Jaden made a lot of sense for Paranjpe; noting that the agency is quite unconventional when it comes to hiring talents. “There was a balance to the work and the overall culture that stood out to me from the beginning; Bonsey Jaden is not a mammoth moving slowly, but quick and clear about their strategies and how they want to grow the business.”
Paranjpe, formerly Malaysia Airlines’ Head of Brand & Strategy during the COVID-19 pandemic—and Creative Director prior to that—steps into the new role with a rich well of relevant experience and the determination to keep it brimming. “I was mostly doing creative work before I stumbled into branding,” he says, “but from what I can already observe, a lot of us here did not follow a traditional path into our current work. I think that’s a good thing, because it means everyone’s unique experience is rich in its own way, and brings multiple perspectives.” His creative experience is evident in popular projects such as the most recent Malaysia Airlines Safety Video and The Sounds of MH.
“We didn’t necessarily want someone to take the role and make it bigger,” says Daniel Posavac, CEO of Bonsey Jaden. “We think Sagar is an excellent fit because of his passion for people management, and his goal of enriching the teams and individual careers. He feels much the same way I do, that we have a responsibility to be a part of a positive change in the industry’s culture. While it won’t happen overnight, we can certainly move in the right direction; this is the kind of leadership Bonsey Jaden wants to continue investing in.”
Paranjpe has now spent over a decade on the agency arena, bringing with him a creative journey that has taken him all over the world, from Thailand to Dubai to New Zealand and back to Malaysia. The principle he has most taken to heart in all his years is that of ‘happy profit’: “If your people are not happy, [the business] just won’t be sustainable.”
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