MAM
IAA announces categories for Leadership Awards
MUMBAI: The International Advertising Association‘s (IAA) India chapter has revealed the categories for the first IAA leadership awards.
The categories cover a wide spectrum of verticals from auto, banking, media & entertainment and telecom to FMCG.
The IAA Leadership Awards categories are — Media Agency Head of the Year, Creative Agency Head of the Year, Marketer of the Year: Media & Entertainment, Marketer of the Year: Banking, Marketer of the Year: Insurance, Marketer of the Year: Auto Passenger Vehicles, Marketer of the Year: Auto Commercial vehicles, Marketer of the Year: Household Products, Marketer of the Year: FMCG – Food & Beverages, Marketer of the Year: FMCG – Personal Care, Marketer of the Year: FMCG – Consumer Durables, Marketer of the Year: Telecom Products, Marketer of the Year: Travel & Hospitality, Best CEO, News Anchor of the Year, Media Person of the Year, Editor of the Year and Hall of Fame.
IAA leadership awards aim to bring together the disciplines of Marketing, Advertising and Media under one roof. The awards will recognise and honor “outstanding” individuals in the fields of Marketing, Advertising and Media.
Presented by Hindi general entertainment channel (GEC) Colors, the award is scheduled to be held in Mumbai on 2 February.
IAA president Srinivasan Swamy said, “The IAA Leadership Awards salutes the hard work put in by individuals to make a difference to the brands they work for. The categories have been selected to ensure that individuals from various sectors are covered.”
In order to ensure the process is seen as transparent, IAA has appointed the experienced marketing research company AC Nielsen to execute the nomination and voting process.
Further Ernst & Young has been appointed to conduct audit and validate the entire process. The winners will be decided in a two-stage selection process; the first stage will include nominations and shortlisting by seasoned marketing, media and advertising professionals; and the second stage will be the final selection of winners by a voting process among the shortlisted nominees, by respective senior industry peers.
In the first edition of the annual awards, Information and Broadcasting minister Manish Tewari will be present as the chief guest.
Brands
Hemlata Sharma joins ONEOTT Broadband as chief business officer
Former Zee Media distribution head to steer growth, partnerships and strategy
MUMBAI: 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.
