MAM
Havas Media India makes senior digital appointments
MUMBAI: Havas Media India which has added a slew of wins to the kitty in 2013 has strengthened its ‘digital’ segment with two key senior appointments.
In tune with the group’s integrated structure, Havas Media India’s full services digital portfolio includes digital media planning and buying, display advertising, digital direct response, search engine marketing, SEO, pay-per-click, social media, as well as ‘Mobext’ for mobile solutions and performance marketing using data and analytics.
To establish itself further in India, the company has appointed Sumit Kumar as General Manager; while S.V. Sunilkumar has joined as Business Head Digital-Mumbai, whose key responsibility will be to service the existing digital clientele in Mumbai as well as new business development.
Speaking on the appointments, Havas Media Group, India & South Asia CEO Anita Nayyar said, “Digital is a focal point for us and these appointments will further consolidate our attempt to offer the latest digital services to our clients. Both Sumit and Sunil are talented and committed digital players – we are glad to have them on board.”
“Sunil and Sumit are mandated to entrenching and expanding the Havas Digital footprint in Mumbai and India”, added Havas Media India MD-Digital Anurag Bhatnagar.
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Havas Media Group, India & South Asia CEO Anita Nayyar
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Havas Media India MD digital Anurag Bhatnagar
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“Mobext not only provides mobile solutions to engage the customer but can also help brands make their sales force more effective with our enterprise solutions – a unique proposition in itself. The profile is a huge challenge and opportunity to create unique experiences and expand the Mobext offering in India”, explained Sumit Kumar, General Manager, Mobext India
Business Head Digital-Mumbai S.V. Sunilkumar commented, “As a digital enthusiast, it is always exciting to work with an agency whose mantra is ‘Digital at its core’. Havas Media has been on an aggressive growth path and again it is good to be where the action is. I look forward to creating some of this action”.
Sumit Kumar, with over eight years of leadership experience in business development, strategic partnerships, product management and corporate sales, was earlier leading the performance and app advertising business for InMobi India. Clients worked with include – Tata DOCOMO, Vodafone, Sony Entertainment, Disney, OLX, Viacom 18, Tencent, AOL, Cleartip , Hungama, Nazara, Opera and Times Group.
Sunilkumar with 18 years of media experience was working with Infosys as a Principal Consultant and a part of the core product development team at BrandEdge (the global cloud based digital marketing platform). Also, as digital media head at DDB Mudra, he has serviced clients including LIC, Star TV, McDonalds, IDBI Bank, India First Life Insurance, etc.
Digital
Ethical AI must benefit society, not dominate it, says WFEB chief Sanjay Pradhan at IAA event
At Mumbai event, ethics expert urges businesses and governments to shape AI responsibly
MUMBAI: Artificial intelligence may be racing ahead at lightning speed, but its direction must still be guided by human conscience. That was the central message delivered by Sanjay Pradhan, president of the World Forum for Ethics in Business (WFEB), during the latest edition of IAA Conversations held in Mumbai.
The session was organised by the International Advertising Association (IAA) and the Artificial Intelligence Association of India (AIAI) in association with The Free Press Journal at the Free Press House on 7 March. Addressing a packed audience, Pradhan called for stronger ethical leadership to ensure AI remains a tool that benefits humanity rather than one that governs it.
“Artificial intelligence has rapidly become one of the most powerful technologies humanity has created,” Pradhan said. “It is unlocking breakthroughs in medicine, science and creativity at a pace unimaginable just a few years ago.”
But he warned that the same technology carries serious risks. AI, he noted, can amplify disinformation faster than facts can travel, compromise privacy, deepen discrimination and disrupt millions of livelihoods. Referencing concerns raised by AI pioneers such as Geoffrey Hinton, often called the godfather of AI, Pradhan stressed that the real challenge is not whether AI will shape the world, but whether humans will shape it with ethics and wisdom.
Structuring his talk around four guiding questions, why, what, how and who, Pradhan introduced the audience to WFEB’s emerging AI Ethics Partnership, a global platform aimed at advancing responsible artificial intelligence. He outlined four priority concerns that demand urgent attention: disinformation, bias and discrimination, data privacy and job security.
To make the idea of ethical AI easier to grasp, Pradhan offered a simple metaphor. Ethical AI, he said, is like a three layered cake. The outer layer represents the visible value ethical AI creates for businesses and society. The middle layer is organisational culture that moves ethics from written codes to everyday practice. The innermost layer, however, is the most crucial, the conscience of individual leaders.
Drawing from Indian philosophical thought through WFEB co-founder Ravi Shankar, Pradhan noted that while artificial intelligence can reproduce stored knowledge, true intelligence is boundless and rooted in conscience, creativity and compassion. Practices such as breathwork and meditation, he suggested, can help leaders develop the calm clarity needed for ethical decision making.
The event also featured a discussion with Maninder Adityaraj Singh, chief of staff and head of innovation at Rediffusion Brand Solutions Pvt Ltd, and Yash Johri, lawyer, Supreme Court of India.
Opening the session, IAA India chapter president Abhishek Karnani, highlighted the need for industries to understand and engage with AI responsibly.
“AI has to be befriended and understood,” added Rediffusion managing director and AIAI national convenor Sandeep Goyal. “Its ethical use will determine whether it becomes a friend or a foe.”
As AI continues to reshape industries and societies, Pradhan ended with a simple but powerful call to action. Businesses, governments and individuals must work together to ensure that the algorithms shaping the future reflect human values rather than just cold logic.
