MAM
Popai India to host OMA awards in Mumbai in 2006
MUMBAI: The Point of Purchase Advertising International – India (POPAI India) organisation will roll out the red carpet in Mumbai next year as it hosts the first Popai Outstanding Merchandising Achievement (OMA) Awards at the Nehru Convention Center in Worli, Mumbai on 20 January, 2006.
This event will feature works in the marketing at-retail segment. The aim is to promote its vision of advancing marketing at-retail in the total marketing mix. Proceeds will go towards furthering POPAI’s mission in its four thematic pillars of work in India: ethical practices, rapid expansion of business opportunities, protection of economic interests, and preservation of the industry’s rights as a commercial communications medium in India.
Popai’s vice chairman, Sanjeev Malhotra, says, “The OMA Awards in India would set quality benchmarks which could boost the Marketing at Retail Industry’s current standards”.
Brand marketer, advertising agencies, media and the marketing at-retail industry are expected to attend this event. Popai will honor marketing at-retail oeuvres based on their engineering, innovation, design, functionality, integration, and results to corporate social responsibility.
Internationally, winning displays of Popai OMA awards include Frank Mayer & Associates for BMW, Rand Display International, Inc. for Pfizer, Timbar Packaging and Display for Intuit, Coca Cola, Microsoft Xbox Halo 2 standee, Corona Tiki Torch for Barton Beers.
Brands
OpenAI hires Nitin Bawankule as head of enterprise sales, India
Former AWS, Google and Disney+ Hotstar leader to drive AI adoption at scale
MUMBAI: OpenAI has appointed Nitin Bawankule as head of enterprise sales for India, strengthening its leadership bench as it deepens its push into one of the world’s fastest-growing AI markets.
Bawankule, who will join in mid-May, brings more than two decades of experience across cloud, media, and digital ecosystems. Most recently, he served at Amazon Web Services, where he led multiple high-growth verticals and helped accelerate enterprise adoption of cloud and AI solutions in India.
Announcing the move, OpenAI head of enterprise sales, India Nitin Bawankule said he is looking forward to helping organisations transition from “isolated AI pilots to company-wide transformation” and embedding AI into everyday workflows to unlock productivity and better decision-making.
Before AWS, Bawankule held senior leadership roles at The Walt Disney Company, where he led ad sales for Disney+ Hotstar and television networks, driving revenue growth across major sporting and entertainment properties. He also spent over eight years at Google, including a stint as country director for Google Cloud in India.
His appointment comes at a time when Indian enterprises are rapidly scaling AI adoption, moving beyond experimentation to integrating AI into core business functions. OpenAI’s decision to bring in a seasoned enterprise leader signals its intent to capture this opportunity and build deeper partnerships across industries.
With a strong track record in navigating major technology shifts, Bawankule is expected to play a key role in translating AI’s promise into practical, business-ready solutions for Indian companies.
As the race to operationalise AI gathers pace, OpenAI’s latest hire suggests it is gearing up not just to participate, but to lead from the front in India’s enterprise AI story.
