Zoo Media has elevated Kartik Khanna and Rehan Dadachanji, co-founders of The Starter Labs, to partners and co-founders of the network as it looks to strengthen integration across its businesses and expand its capabilities for Indian and global brands.
Khanna and Dadachanji founded The Starter Labs and scaled it to a team of around 100 people, working across industries and geographies. In 2022, Zoo Media partially acquired the agency, following which the duo continued to lead its growth while contributing to businesses and functions across the wider network.
Commenting on the appointments, Suveer Bajaj and Pratik Gupta, co-founders of FoxyMoron and Zoo Media, said the duo had played an integral role in the network’s growth through their entrepreneurial approach, operating expertise and understanding of clients.
Bajaj added that their elevation reflected the trust they had earned and the leadership responsibilities they would take on as Zoo Media continued to evolve. He said their combined experience would help the network build more connected, responsive and future-ready solutions for clients.
The leadership changes come as Zoo Media looks to deepen integration across its network, strengthen specialist capabilities and develop a more agile, outcome-focused operating model.
“We want to make Zoo Media the country’s most sought-after network for Indian and global brands,” said Dadachanji. He added that the network had an opportunity to build an Indian independent agency group capable of competing internationally while retaining its entrepreneurial approach and specialist expertise. He also reiterated that driving business outcomes for brands had remained a consistent priority for the duo over the past decade.
In their expanded roles, the two leaders will focus on strengthening the adoption of artificial intelligence across workflows and creative disciplines, enhancing research capabilities, advancing performance marketing and creative excellence, and developing more outcome-led client engagement and pricing models.
Khanna will bring a customer-first, direct-to-consumer (D2C) and performance-led approach to developing full-funnel campaigns. Dadachanji, meanwhile, will focus on strengthening Zoo Media’s integrated proposition by connecting specialist teams across the network and aligning capabilities with individual client requirements.
“The idea is to go beyond individual agencies and build a truly connected network, while staying more integrated, more effective and more relevant to how businesses are evolving,” said Khanna.
