AD Agencies
Colgate’s crown jewel Priyanka Khaneja Gandhi heads to Amazon
MUMBAI: She’s brushed up brand campaigns for over a decade and a half— now she’s scrubbing into a new gig. After a sparkling 16-year stint at Colgate-Palmolive (she resigned in mid-2024), Priyanka Khaneja Gandhi has moved on to lead Amazon India’s advertising marketing and creative solutions as head of Amazon India Ads Marketing.
The Mumbai-based marketing powerhouse, long synonymous with Colgate’s integrated brand experiences, joined Amazon in April 2025. At the ecommerce behemoth, she will helm creative and marketing solutions for its burgeoning ads business — a space heating up as retail media becomes the new battleground for digital dollars.
At Colgate, Gandhi led from the front as director – integrated brand experience, overseeing everything from media strategy to e-commerce marketing. She commanded advertising spends north of Rs 500 crore annually, driving digital transformation and performance metrics across social, search, video, and influencer platforms. Her remit spanned digital content, shopper campaigns, data strategy and even building a first-party data ecosystem — all of which align seamlessly with Amazon’s ad-tech ambitions.
Before Colgate, she sharpened her skills at top media shops like Madison, Carat, Starcom, and Enterprise Nexus. Across more than two decades in the trenches, Gandhi’s been a steady force behind brand communication, media efficiency and digital innovation.
Now, with Amazon turning up the heat in the Indian advertising market, all eyes will be on how Gandhi retools the e-retailer’s pitch to brands and buyers alike — from toothbrushes to tech.
AD Agencies
Microsoft shifts global media account from Dentsu to Publicis Groupe: Reports
Closed review ends decade-long tie-up; Xbox remit may remain with Dentsu
MUMBAI: Microsoft has reassigned its global media planning and buying business to Publicis Groupe, according to media reports, ending Dentsu’s long-standing stewardship of one of the advertising industry’s biggest accounts.
The move follows a closed review and marks a notable shake-up in the global media landscape. Dentsu, which managed the account through Carat, had held the mandate since 2014 and successfully defended it in a 2018 review.
While the broader business is shifting, Dentsu is expected to retain media responsibilities for Xbox, according to media reports, though the exact contours of that arrangement remain unclear. None of the parties involved have publicly outlined the transition timeline or the full structure of the handover.
The scale of the account underscores the significance of the change. Estimates from COMvergence, cited by Ad Age, peg Microsoft’s global media spend at roughly $700 million last year.
For Publicis Groupe, the win deepens an already expanding relationship with the tech giant. Earlier this year, Microsoft Advertising partnered with Publicis Media Exchange and Epsilon to integrate Epsilon’s data into its platform, aiming to sharpen targeting across search, native and display formats.
The decision reflects a broader industry shift, as large advertisers increasingly favour agency partners with strong first-party data capabilities, AI integration and platform-led solutions. Publicis Groupe has been leaning into this model, positioning its data assets and technology stack as a central differentiator.
For Dentsu, the loss is significant. Media remains a core pillar of its global business, and the development comes close on the heels of leadership changes, including the appointment of Takeshi Sano as global chief executive officer.
The shift also carries a touch of irony. Microsoft and Dentsu have worked closely beyond the client-agency relationship, including collaborations around AI tools such as Copilot to support media and creative workflows.
As the dust settles, the message is clear: in today’s data-driven, AI-powered media world, relationships may be long, but they are rarely permanent.
