MAM
‘Fail often, fail fast’: Sam Balsara’s advice to the ad sector
MUMBAI: Madison Media on 20 February released its Advertising Outlook 2015 report. While releasing the report, Madison World chairman Sam Balsara gave the advertisers five important pieces of advice to make the most of the busy, noisy media world.
Focus on effectiveness: The first peice of advice revolved around effectiveness and not just efficiency. Media, according to Balsara, wakes up the worst in everyone, when they hear the rates. Advertisers need to improve the brand health parameters, he said.
Expermentation: This, for Balsara, is the real mantra. “The guiding mantra should be fail often, fail fast. We suffer from analysis paralysis,” he pointed out.
Media can move mountains: The recent experience with BJP and the aggressive spends of e-commerce on print advertising, according to Balsara is a proof of the fact that media can move mountains. “Most brands do not take advantage of what media can offer,” he said adding that advertisers should concentrate on a few brands and then advertise it heavily using all possible media.
Prioritise markets: With limited budgets, one needs to prioritise the markets. “Spend and exposure should be more in priority one market, as compared to that in priority two or three markets,” he informed.
Greater involvement of corner rooms: As media spends are getting larger, media decisions, according to Balsara, are being largely taken by people at the lower level. “Greater involvement of corner room is needed to interact more with media agency leaders,” he concluded.
Brands
LTTS CDO Narayanan Ramanathan steps down
Resignation effective 19 February, company cites personal reasons
CHENNAI: L&T Technology Services Limited announced the resignation of its chief delivery officer and senior management personnel Narayanan Ramanathan, marking a key leadership exit at the engineering services firm.
Ramanathan stepped down from his role, effective at the close of business on 19 February 2026, citing personal reasons. The company accepted the resignation the same day and duly filed all regulatory disclosures related to his cessation.
Based in Chennai, Ramanathan led LTTS’s Digital Products and Manufacturing Services (DPMS) business as a P&L head, overseeing multi-million-dollar operations and large-scale digital transformation programmes. His mandate covered Industry X.0, the Internet of Things, operational technology cybersecurity, robotics, cobots, digital twins, analytics and artificial intelligence.
He joined LTTS in 2018 and spent nearly eight years at the firm, holding several leadership roles before becoming chief delivery officer in November 2024. During his tenure, he worked closely with global capability centres to execute engineering-led digital strategies for international clients.
A technology industry veteran with over 27 years of experience, Ramanathan previously held senior leadership roles at Tech Mahindra, where he served as vice president and global head for connected engineering and analytics, and earlier led integrated engineering solutions across APAC and MEAI markets.
Ramanathan is also the first recipient of the International Galileo Master Award from the European Space Agency. LTTS said there is no additional information to disclose regarding board relationships following his resignation.
