iYogi ropes in Prathap Suthan as CCO

iYogi, a remote consumer tech support company, is expanding its marketing team in India. It has roped in Mr Prathap Suthan, former national creative director at Cheil Worldwide (SW Asia) and Grey Global Group (India), as Chief Creative Officer. Mr Suthan’s mandate will be to build iYogi into a global brand.

The company’s services are currently available in the US, UK, Canada and Australia. The company commenced a customer support process in Philippines recently, and is expected to expand its global customer reach in its fiscal year 2011 to markets in Europe, Middle East and India.

It claimed a customer base of 4,00,000 in January 2011, up from 1,00,000 in end-2009. While the company has expanded its customer base globally through viral online marketing, Mr Suthan will lead a team to drive the brand across multiple platforms.

Speaking to Business Line, Mr Suthan said, “It will become an ATL brand, while building on its online strengths. It is an online business that we are in, and online and mobile are critical components of the communication mix for any business today. In some countries, it is also the driver. We’re building a team here that will drive communication for the global brand from India.”

Besides the new CCO, iYogi will hire more talent for its in-house advertising and marketing team. Mr Suthan added, “The new additions could be from across functions, be it with film or radio or online or whatever skills are necessary to create our global brand. I have a clean slate in front of me and we’re charting that roadmap now.”

Suthan is expected to bring a new outlook to iYogi's ‘platform-as-a-service model’, said an official statement.

Mr Uday Challu, CEO and co-founder, iYogi, said, "His new role will help partners and millions of potential global customers understand our offering as a major disruptive and innovative force in the market."

The company received a fund infusion of $30 million from a consortium of investors led by Sequoia Capital India in end-2010. SVB Capital Partners, SAP Ventures and Draper Fisher Jurvetson are other investors.