MAM
India left out of GM’s global media realignment
MUMBAI: General Motors has left Madison untouched to handle its media account in India while deciding to have Aegis Group’s Carat Media as its global media partner following a full-agency review during the fourth quarter of 2011.
“GM India‘s media buying contract continues to be with Madison at this point of time and the creative account is with McCann Erickson. GM‘s India operation is not impacted in any manner by Carat Media’s global contract. This is completely an independent one,” General Motors India vice president P Balendran told Indiantelevision.com.
Madison had won GM’s media duties in 2010 for three years through to March 2013.
Aegis Group chairman India and CEO South East Asia Ashish Bhasin told Indiantelevision.com that India and China were not part of the global pitch, but declined to disclose other details.
The appointment of Aegis Media carries an anticipated annual media spend of $3 billion worldwide, General Motors said.
The global realignment will cover all three Aegis’ reporting regions – EMEA, Americas and Asia Pacific. It follows Aegis Media‘s appointment as GM‘s media agency across Europe on 1 January 2007. The contract includes duties in media planning and buying, search, social media and mobile communications and will be managed and co-ordinated through Carat‘s global US team.
The market is speculating that a second phase of the realignment may take place in future which may include India as well.
Though he refused to reveal GM’s media spends on advertising in India, Balendran said that the focus is on print and electronic (media) including online activities. “Since the non-metros and rural areas are showing good growth for the last couple of years, we focus on advertisements catering to the masses of these areas as well.”
General Motors vice president and global chief marketing officer Joel Ewanick said, “We wanted a media agency partner with the sophistication to leverage global marketing opportunities. Carat has an innovative approach to drive significant marketing value and their service model has been tailored to align well with our global and regional brands. They are uniquely positioned to help us form strong media partnerships and drive significant global efficiencies.”
Operating in 120 countries around the world, Aegis Group is a leading media and digital communications group and holding company for Carat, Vizeum, Isobar, Posterscope and iProspect.
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.
