MAM
Sonali Malaviya appointed as managing director Essence India
MUMBAI: Essence, a global data and measurement-driven media agency which is part of GroupM on Thursday announced the appointment of Sonali Malaviya as the agency’s managing director for India.
Malviya will be responsible for leading continued client-centric innovation in data, analytics and technology, as well as business growth and company culture for the agency in the market. Based out of Delhi, she will report to Essence APAC CEO, T. Gangadhar and GroupM South Asia CEO, Prasanth Kumar. She will join Essence’s APAC leadership team and GroupM India’s executive committee as part of her role. Meanwhile, Anand Chakravarthy, previously managing director for Essence India, has moved on from the agency to pursue new opportunities.
Joining Essence in 2018, Malaviya most recently led the agency’s Google business in India and Southeast Asia as senior vice president, client services. Previously, she served as chief operating officer at Colorbar Cosmetics and country marketing lead at Twitter in India. With over 20 years of industry experience, she has also held senior roles at Mindshare, PHD, Roy Morgan Research and MediaCom in India, the United Arab Emirates and Australia.
“Sonali comes with rich experience in management, marketing and media across industries and markets, as well as a deep understanding of Essence’s business, work, people and culture. In addition to building strong, collaborative partnerships with clients and employees alike, she is an advocate of diversity and inclusion in the workplace. India continues to be a priority for Essence in APAC and globally, and with Sonali at the helm, I am very excited about our next phase of growth and development in the market,” said Essence APAC CEO, T. Gangadhar. “We would also like to thank Anand for his efforts in helping to establish our business in India over the last three years. We greatly appreciate his contributions and wish him the best in his future endeavours.”
“We are glad to see Sonali take over the role of Essence India managing director. With her background and significant achievements, she will add to the capabilities of Essence and work with our teams to improve the client experience. As we continue to develop leaders internally, Sonali is also part of our growing pool of talent taking on various leadership roles across GroupM India. I look forward to working with Sonali and leveraging her expertise,” said GroupM South Asia CEO, Prasanth Kumar.
“I am truly honoured to have the opportunity to lead Essence in India. Over the past three years, I have witnessed and been part of our incredible growth story in this market, and am very proud of what our agency, clients and employees have achieved together. I am looking forward to partnering with our highly talented teams and leveraging our industry-leading capabilities to help even more brands in India achieve data-driven growth and transformation, as well as valuable connections with consumers,” said Malaviya.
AD Agencies
WPP Media elevates Dipti Gulati to vp, client growth for APMEA
Singapore-based executive to commercialise AI-powered solutions business across the region
SINGAPORE: WPP Media has promoted Dipti Gulati to vice president, client growth, handing her the mandate to lead the commercialisation of its solutions business across APMEA.
Based in Singapore, Gulati steps up after serving as senior director, client growth, where she drove expansion across APAC spanning programmatic, search, social, CTV, DOOH and cross-channel offerings. Now, she is tasked with translating advanced AI, data and technology ecosystems into scalable growth strategies for global brands across FMCG, luxury, F&B and financial services.
“I commercialise the future of media — at scale, across APMEA,” Gulati said, announcing her appointment. She added that she turns advanced data, AI and technology ecosystems into real commercial outcomes, shifting the conversation “from a pure media play to owning business outcomes”.
Her brief is unapologetically future-facing: addressable, accountable and AI-powered media. She will work with cross-market teams across APMEA, bringing together diverse perspectives and cultures to accelerate growth and build what she calls the “future of media”.
Gulati’s rise caps nearly two years at WPP Media and follows a six-month stint as regional director of growth, APAC, at Mindshare, where she led new business development and expanded capabilities for existing clients. Earlier, as global account director for integrated marketing communications on the Unilever business, she drove communications strategy for multi-million dollar beauty and wellbeing brands across Southeast Asia.
Before that, Gulati spent close to two years as associate director at Warner Bros. Discovery in Singapore. She also served as director, strategic partnerships and market development at TrustSphere, leading go-to-market and growth initiatives across Asia and evangelising relationship analytics to C-level executives. TrustSphere, credited by industry and Harvard Business School case studies as a pioneer in relationship analytics, became a springboard for her deeper engagement with data-driven growth.
Her board and evangelist roles at the Asia Cloud Computing Association and its Asia Analytics Alliance further sharpened her regional policy and analytics credentials. Earlier chapters include marketing consultancy at Blockchain Foundry and a seven-year run at Warner Bros. Discovery in India, where she led ad-sales and business development for HBO and WB across north and east India, delivering record billings. She began her career at Diligent Media Corporation Ltd and Bennett, Coleman and Co. Ltd..
From ad-sales floors in Delhi and Mumbai to boardrooms in Singapore, Gulati’s arc mirrors the industry’s own shift — from selling spots and slots to engineering outcomes through data and AI. At WPP Media, the brief is clear: scale smarter, move faster and turn algorithms into advantage.
