Takeshi Komuro

Leader Mindshare Japan

Komuro san has more than 10 years experience in media planning. He started work at JWT then Mindshare Japan, mainly in charge of Unilever business for the first 4 years, later also working on various brands such as Pfizer, Nestle, Kellogg, Rolex, Motorola, PSA (Citroen), Zurich insurance, and Diageo. He moved to Mindshare Shanghai in Nov 2005 as Brand Team Leader in charge of a team handling various multi-national clients such as Diageo, Nike, Shiseido, Unicharm, Bristol-Myers Squibb and DTC. Komuro san moved back to the Mindshare Tokyo office in May 2008 and in November 2008 Komuro san became Leader of Mindshare Japan.

Niero Okamoto

The Exchange, Partner Mindshare Japan

Darran Lucas

Invention, Partner Mindshare Japan

On completion of an Economics Degree at Hull University, Darran began his career at the London office of Initiative Media. Darran started as a buyer on Unilever and followed this with 3 years as a senior planner/buyer on the PSA car account.  He later was promoted to Group Manager across Unilever Personal Care before taking up the same position across Johnson & Johnson. In 2004 Darran was appointed Media Director on the newly acquired France Telecom account, further clients included Burger King, Credit Suisse, Las Vegas Tourist Board and Bernard Matthews. In February 2008 Darran was lured to Mindshare Japan as a Partner working across Team Unilever Japan.

Shardul Wartikar

Business Planning, Partner Mindshare Japan

After completing his MBA (specializing in Marketing) in 1997, Shardul started his working career in market research with Indian Market Research Bureau (IMRB).  After three years with IMRB, he joined Millward Brown and has worked exclusively in the area of brand and communications research for the last 6 years in China, Hongkong, Taiwan and Japan. He was also instrumental in setting up the Millward Brown office in Taiwan.  As a natural progression from his research role, Shardul joined Mindshare in 2006 as Business Planning Partner with the objective of helping make marketing and communication investment decisions more accountable, effective and efficient.