MAM
Aegis Media appoints Alex Crowther to head General Motors’ biz
BENGALURU: Aegis-owned media agency, Carat — a media communications specialist and a player in digital and diversified media solutions, has appointed Alex Crowther, former CEO of MediaCom Asia Pacific as Global Client President, effective immediately.
Crowther, in this role, will be responsible for leading the General Motors business and continuing Carat’s track record of global success in managing the USD 300 crores global account.
“Alex is the perfect person to lead the continued momentum and growth of General Motors’ global business for us,” said Aegis Media Americas & EMEA CEO Nigel Morris. “He’s a rare talent who brings extensive global experience and a proven track record working with major global brands across categories, but specifically with automotive. He has the entrepreneurial spirit and drive to find innovative ways to drive GM’s business forward in today’s convergent media landscape.”
Crowther returns to Carat, where he once worked at Carat International, after a 19-year hiatus, and brings 26 years of global experience in the media industry. Prior to Carat, Alex was CEO Asia Pacific for the global media network MediaCom, part of WPP’s GroupM, sitting on the Asia Pacific board of GroupM and global board of MediaCom. During his first three years at MediaCom, Alex helped to double to size and scale of the business in Asia Pacific by winning multiple Proctor & Gamble country assignments, Coca-Cola in several territories and many other globally recognised brands.
Morris continued, “Steven has been part of the Carat GM leadership team since the onset of our relationship, helping to open Carat’s office and global hub for the GM partnership in Detroit. He led the successful transition of Carat’s GM business across more than 70 markets and will move on to do more great things for other global and U.S. clients across our network.”
Prior to MediaCom, Alex served as President/CEO Americas and Asia Pacific of integrated communications network Davinci, a part of Omnicom. Based in the US — much of it in Detroit, he was President/CEO Americas and Asia Pacific and as co-founder was instrumental in the company’s rapid growth from a standing start to a presence in more than 60 markets in seven years. During his time at Davinci, the agency managed the global media for Chrysler and Mercedes Benz as well as Mitsubishi Motors in North America.
“Automotive has always been a passion of mine and a cornerstone in my career, so it only makes sense that I return to Detroit, especially to work at a global-leading media agency that is consistently ranked as the number 1 network by RECMA. Carat is the only network that truly understands convergence and is redefining the value of media to create better business value. I can’t wait to get started,” said Crowther.
Crowther replaces Steven Feuling, who will be relocating to San Francisco and assuming a new role at Carat. During Feuling’s tenure as Global Client President for GM, Carat helped GM achieve significant gains from both a consumer and business perspective, including Interbrand naming Chevrolet as one the Top 100 Global Brands in 2013.
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Abhay Duggal joins JioStar as director of Hindi GEC ad sales
The streaming giant brings in a seasoned revenue hand as the battle for Hindi television advertising heats up
MUMBAI: Abhay Duggal has a new desk, and JioStar has a new weapon. The media and entertainment veteran has joined JioStar as director of entertainment ad sales for Hindi general entertainment channels, adding 17 years of hard-won revenue experience to one of India’s most powerful broadcasting operations.
Duggal is no stranger to big portfolios or bruising markets. Before joining JioStar, he spent a brief stint at Republic World as deputy general manager and north regional head for ad sales. Before that, he put in three years at Enterr10 Television, where he ran the north region for Dangal TV and Dangal 2, two of India’s leading free-to-air Hindi channels. The north alone accounted for more than 50 per cent of total channel revenue on his watch, a number that tends to get attention in any sales meeting.
His longest stint was at Zee Entertainment Enterprises, where he spent over six years rising to associate director of sales. There he commanded the Hindi movies cluster across seven channels, owned more than half of north India’s revenue across flagship properties including Zee TV and &TV, and closed marquee sponsorships across the Indian Premier League, Zee Rishtey Awards and Dance India Dance. He also handled monetisation for the English movies and entertainment cluster and the global news channel WION, a portfolio that would stretch most sales teams twice his size.
Earlier in his career Duggal closed what was then a Rs 3 crore single deal at Reliance Broadcast Network, one of the largest in Indian radio at the time, before that he helped launch and monetise JAINHITS, India’s first HITS-based cable and satellite platform.
His edge, by his own account, lies in marrying data and instinct: translating audience trends, inventory signals and client demands into long-term partnerships built on cost-per-rating-point discipline rather than short-term deal chasing. In a media landscape being reshaped by streaming, fragmented attention and AI-driven advertising, that kind of rigour is increasingly rare and increasingly valuable.
JioStar, which blends the scale of Reliance’s Jio platform with the content firepower of Star, is doubling down on its advertising business at precisely the moment the Hindi GEC market is getting more competitive. Bringing in someone who has spent nearly two decades doing exactly this, across some of India’s most watched channels, is a pointed statement of intent. Duggal has spent his career turning audiences into revenue. JioStar is clearly betting he can do it again, and bigger.
