MAM
IAA crowns Sam Balsara as Media Agency Head of the Year
MUMBAI: The International Advertising Association (IAA) India chapter on Saturday crowned Madison World chairman and MD Sam Balsara as the Media Agency Head of the Year in the first edition of IAA Leadership Awards.
IAA leadership Awards were given away in 18 categories in Mumbai. The awards recognised and honoured “outstanding” individuals in the fields of marketing, advertising and media.
Ogilvy & Mather executive chairman and national creative head Piyush Pandey was bestowed with the Creative Agency Head of the Year Award.
Star India EVP and communication Gayatri Yadav won the award in the Media & Entertainment category.
On the client‘s side, Cadbury India: Regional category head APAC (developing) executive director Chocolates & Biscuits Chandramouli Venkatesh bagged the IAA Leadership Awards in FMCG-food and beverages category while HUL vice-president – Skincare Arun Srinivas won the award in FMCG-Personal Care category.
Samsung Electronics CMO Rahul Saigal was given the IAA Leadership Award in Consumer Durables Category. Meanwhile, ICICI Bank head marketing Sujit Ganguli got the marketer of the year award in the banking category.
LIC India executive director Rita Bhattacharya received the marketer of the year award in insurance sector and Vodafone Sr VP, Brand Communications, Insights and Online Anuradha Aggarwal bagged the marketer of the year award in telecom products & services category.
Hero Motor Corp SVP Sales and marketing Anil Dua was given the IAA Leadership Award in auto-two Wheeler category, while Maruti Suzuki COO Mayak Pareek collected the marketer of the year award in auto-passenger vehicle category.
Force Motors GM Cyriac Jacob was bestowed with the marketer of the year-auto commercial vehicle award while Makemytrip.com marketing head Manish Kalra collected the marketer of the year award in travel & hospitality category.
Asian Paints vice-president sales and marketing Amit Syngle won the IAA Leadership Award in household products & services category. ITC chairman YC Deveshwar got the award in the best CEO of the year category.
IAA had also constituted special six categories for editor of the year that was won by TOI executive editor Jaideep Bose, News Anchor of the year award by IBN-18 editor in chief Rajdeep Sardesai, Media person of the year award by Hindustan Times chairperson and editorial director Shobhana Bhartia, brand endorser of the year – male award by Salman Khan, best endorser of the year award by Katrina Kaif and the IAA Hall of Fame award by former president and director of Bennett, Coleman & Company and former CEO of Zee Pradeep Guha.
Brands
Hemlata Sharma joins ONEOTT Broadband as chief business officer
Former Zee Media distribution head to steer growth, partnerships and strategy
MUMBAI:Â Hemlata Sharma has joined ONEOTT Broadband as chief business officer, bringing with her more than three decades of experience across television, telecom and media distribution.
Sharma most recently served as head distribution, research & CRM at Zee Media Corporation Limited, where she worked closely with editorial and senior management while overseeing distribution, consumer research and customer relationships for 14 news channels including Zee News, WION, Zee Hindustan and Zee Business, along with ten regional state channels.
In that role, she led nationwide distribution across platforms such as DTH, Hits, IPTV, cable networks and DD Free Dish. She also drove consumer research and strategic insights on a pan India scale, analysing content performance, anchor impact, programme slots and audience behaviour to guide editorial decisions and programming strategy.
Her portfolio also included managing one of the largest alliances with Zee Entertainment Enterprises Limited and overseeing the global distribution monitoring of Wion across North America, Mena, Europe, Africa, APAC and Australia.
Earlier, Sharma briefly served as head sales and distribution at Triplecom Media Pvt Ltd, an engagement driven OTT platform bringing together content, gaming, music and advertising for the entertainment distribution ecosystem.
Her earlier career includes a senior vice president stint at Ten Sports Network, where she played a key role in relaunching the sports broadcaster as an independent bouquet comprising Ten Sports, Ten Cricket, Ten Action and Ten Golf following the Zee takeover. During this period, she moved from vp west to head strategy for cable and dth and later national head retail distribution, helping build the network’s retail distribution vertical across India and launching dedicated golf and football channels.
Before that, Sharma spent over six years at Bharti Airtel as general manager operations for Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh. She initially led marketing and corporate communications before moving into sales leadership, where voice sales grew by 86 per cent and revenues by 96 per cent. She later headed business operations, expanding annual business volumes to Rs 100 crore while significantly reducing operational costs.
Sharma began her long association with the media distribution ecosystem at Zee Entertainment Enterprises Limited as regional head sales and distribution for central India. During that period, she played a role in the early rollout of pay television channels including Zee Cinema, HBO, Nickelodeon and Cartoon Network, while also contributing to the launch of Siti Cable in key central Indian cities.
With her new role at ONEOTT Broadband, Sharma is expected to focus on strengthening business strategy, expanding partnerships and driving growth across the company’s broadband and digital distribution ecosystem.
