Dentsu India COO Kartik Iyer retires after over 30 years in media and advertising

MUMBAI: After more than three decades in media and advertising, Kartik Iyer, chief operating officer at dentsu India, has retired from the network, closing a long career that included leadership roles across some of the country’s prominent media agencies.

Iyer joined dentsu in 2008 and was appointed chief operating officer of dentsu India in 2021. During his tenure, he held leadership responsibilities across agencies including Carat, Amplifi and Vizeum, working with a broad portfolio of international and Indian brands.

His client experience spans General Motors, Philips, Muthoot, Adidas, Microsoft, MasterCard, Mattel, Total and SCA, among others.

Iyer’s career in advertising began in 1991 as a management trainee at Lowe Lintas. He subsequently moved through senior roles in the media industry, including director of media services at Active International India before joining Carat Media Services India in 2008.

At Carat, Iyer served as managing director for more than 11 years, before moving into the wider dentsu India leadership team. He became president of media brands in January 2020 and took on the COO role in April 2021.

Over the course of his career, Iyer also played a role in launching brands such as LG and Compaq in India. He has additionally led the media team of one of the country’s largest automotive companies.

His retirement marks the end of a lengthy stint at dentsu, where he spent more than 18 years across agency and network leadership roles. His career has spanned a period in which India’s media industry moved from traditional planning and buying towards increasingly digital, data-led and integrated models.

With his exit, dentsu India loses a senior executive who has worked across multiple agency brands and major advertiser accounts while helping steer its media operations through significant changes in the industry.