Abhinay Bhasin: Data-driven adman

Abhinay Bhasin believes that advertising provides insight into the consumer's mind Image: Aditi TailangAbhinay Bhasin | 26Associate Director (South Asia), Data Sciences, Dentsu Aegis Network, IndiaCategory: Advertising, Marketing & Media

What happens when an economist joins advertising? It’s magic. Reason: Data marries human emotions. “Advertising is a barometer of economic growth and provides tremendous insight into the consumer’s mind,” says Abhinay Bhasin, associate director (South Asia), Data Sciences, at Dentsu Aegis Network India. Data is a reflection of human emotions, and the use of data in advertising results in a more comprehensive perspective, says Bhasin, who was selected to represent young talent of the Dentsu Aegis Network globally at the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity last year.

Bhasin, a postgraduate in economics from University of Warwick, United Kingdom, aspired to become a doctor as a schoolboy. But as destiny would have it, he fared poorly in biology. Medicine’s loss, interestingly, was advertising’s gain. What makes Bhasin stand out is his effort to establish India has a hub of innovation where ‘product-beta tests’ are made before exporting to other markets globally. Bhasin’s team has worked directly with the product teams of Facebook and Google in California in developing products that were tested in India before a global rollout.

Vidyadhar Kale, managing global client partner at Facebook in New York, contends that Bhasin has played a pivotal role in creating a system of planning and optimisation tools through intelligent use of Facebook Application Programming Interfaces (APIs), which have been adopted in advanced markets such as Japan, Australia and Singapore. “He is a sound strategic thinker, highly dedicated, passionate and driven,” says Kale.