MAM
GroupM launches a consulting division
MUMBAI: GroupM has launched GroupM Consulting Services, a new division designed to help clients achieve improvements to their marketing effectiveness and business results.
The announcement was made by GroupM North America CEO Kelly Clark, who said the new unit would be led by Ernie Simon, a media agency executive with more than 25 years of experience.
Simon was most recently OMD chief strategy officer. He also spent 10 years at the GroupM agency Mindshare.
GroupM is the parent company to WPP media agencies Maxus, MEC, MediaCom, and Mindshare. It is the leading global media investment management operation with 2011 global billings of $90.7 billion (Source: Recma).
Clark said that Simon, whose new role is effective immediately, was the ideal candidate to lead the new division.
“Ernie‘s credentials speak for themselves. He‘s a total professional with a great mix of strategic and analytical skills. He also has extensive experience in a wide range of product and service categories, and we are delighted to welcome him back.”
Simon will serve as president of the new division and will lead a team of analysts and consultants. The group will work with its clients to leverage capabilities and resources from across GroupM and its holding company WPP. The group‘s services will include the following:
- Marketing and media analytics
- Portfolio management
- Marketing budget allocation and optimization
- Target prioritization and optimization
- Business forecasting
- Return on media/marketing investment
Simon worked at Mindshare from 1998 until 2009 where his roles included Chief Strategist and President of Strategic Planning, among others, most of them related to client leadership. At one point he served as Worldwide Strategic Planning Director on the Gillette account encompassing 50 brands in over 100 countries. He also managed the Bristol Myers-Squibb US account, as well as the Warner-Lambert/Pfizer business. He joined Mindshare when it was founded in 1999; he previously worked in the media department of WPP sister agency JWT.
Digital
Galleri5 launches India’s first AI cinema OS at India AI Summit
Collective Artists Network unveils end-to-end production platform powering Mahabharat series and Hanuman teaser.
MUMBAI: India’s cinema just got an AI operating system upgrade because why settle for tools when you can have a full production command centre? Collective Artists Network and Galleri5 today unveiled Galleri5 AI Studio at the India AI Impact Summit in New Delhi, billing it as the country’s first cinema-native production technology platform. Launched on 20 February 2026, the system acts as an end-to-end orchestration layer for film and television, integrating generative AI, LoRA-driven character architecture, controlled shot pipelines, 3D/VFX tools, lip-sync, upscaling, quality control, and delivery, all tuned for theatrical and broadcast standards.
Unlike piecemeal AI tools, Galleri5 controls the entire stack from script and world-building to final master output. Filmmakers retain creative authorship, continuity, and IP security while slashing timelines from years to months.
The platform is already in live use at scale. Mahabharat: Ek Dharmayudh, an AI-powered series produced under Collective’s Historyverse banner, is airing on Star Plus and streaming on JioHotstar, ranking among the top-watched shows in its slot. Meanwhile, Chiranjeevi Hanuman – The Eternal (produced by Star Studios 18) dropped its teaser on IMAX screens, leveraging Galleri5’s infrastructure for the visuals.
Collective Artists Network founder and group CEO Vijay Subramaniam said, “For India to lead in the next era of storytelling, we have to think beyond tools and start building systems. This is about putting durable production infrastructure in place so creators can dream bigger, producers can execute faster, and our stories can travel further.”
Galleri5 partner at Collective and CEO Rahul Regulapati added, “Cinema requires precision, repeatability, and control. Off-the-shelf AI doesn’t solve that. Orchestration does. We built an operating system where technology bends to filmmaking, not the other way around.”
Under Historyverse, Collective Studios is developing a slate including Hanuman, Krishna, Shiva, and Shivaji blending advanced AI systems with traditional craft. The summit session featured directors from Hanuman, Krishna, and Shiva alongside Collective leaders, diving into real-world case studies: what delivers on screen, what glitches, and how production economics are shifting.
At a summit packed with global tech brass and policymakers, Galleri5 stakes a bold claim, cinema’s future belongs to integrated systems, not isolated gadgets and India is building one right now. Whether you’re a filmmaker eyeing faster workflows or just curious about AI remaking epics, this OS could be the script-flip the industry didn’t see coming.
