Kinnect hires 19-year strategy veteran to lead planning

Kinnect has put planning at the centre of its next growth chapter. The Omnicom Advertising agency has named Shipra Chinchankar as National Planning Director, tasking her with leading its national planning function and bringing a clearer brand-and-business lens to work across platforms. She reports to Chandni Shah, CEO of Kinnect and 22feet.

The appointment is a deliberate statement of intent: in a business where “digital” too often means channels, formats and performance metrics, Kinnect is hiring someone whose first language is brands.

A résumé built on brand logic

Chinchankar arrives with over 19 years in strategy and planning across FCB Ulka, JWT and Lowe Lintas. Her experience spans brand architecture, market launches and growth for names such as Amul, Tata Teleservices, TCS, Good Knight and Parag Milk Foods.

The most instructive chapter is her 13 years at Lowe Lintas, where she worked on Unilever brands and had a hand in Surf Excel campaigns, the India launch of Hershey’s chocolate portfolio, Complan’s revitalisation and Prudential Health’s entry into the country.

Why a traditional planner is the new asset

Digital-first shops have not historically chased planners from the FMCG school. That gap is the point. Shah explains the logic through convergence: as brand, commerce, content and technology blur into a single operating reality, the agencies that win are those that “turn complexity into decisive strategic action.”

A strategist’s job in that world is to choose. Which message travels? Which platform reinforces it? Which launch strengthens the master brand rather than merely adding noise? Chinchankar puts the philosophy as a two-way street: “every creative idea needs a bit of logic, and every piece of logic needs a bit of creativity.”

Shah expects the role to “deepen our strategic ambition” and “sharpen our point of view” — language that positions planning as an output, not a support function. The agency is betting that clients who once demanded better reach will increasingly demand better reasons.

Lessons from her track record

• Brand architecture before channel work. Launching a chocolate portfolio in India is a portfolio-level decision, not a social media decision.
• Revitalisation is a strategic act. Complan’s rebound was about repositioning a mature brand, not just fresher ads.
• Enduring principles travel. Understanding people, brands and business applies whether the work is a TVC or a multi-platform campaign.

What brand managers should borrow

For founders and marketing heads, the lesson is organisational. Attach classic strategic rigour to platform-native execution: hire or empower people who have actually launched and revived brands, and let them be the filter that decides whether a piece of content is on-brand before it ships.

Chinchankar says the opportunity is to bring her understanding of people, brands and business into “new-age media and multi-platform brand building.” That framing is exactly what overstretched brand teams need — a function responsible for consistency and clarity while the content machine runs fast. As planning becomes scarce and valuable, expect more agencies to make this kind of hire.

Source: MARKETECH APAC