Kartik Sharma named Media Agency Head of the Year at IAA Awards 2026

MUMBAI: Kartik Sharma has added another accolade to his three-decade media career, with the Omnicom Media India chief executive officer named Media Agency Head of the Year at the IAA Leadership Awards 2026.

The award recognises Sharma’s leadership, contribution to the industry and role in shaping the next phase of growth for Omnicom Media’s India business.

With more than 30 years of industry experience, Sharma has played a key role in the evolution of Omnicom Media’s operations in India. His leadership comes at a time when the media ecosystem is becoming increasingly fragmented and interconnected, requiring agencies to bring together multiple capabilities while keeping business outcomes firmly in focus.

Under Sharma’s leadership, Omnicom Media has pursued a more integrated approach, combining global capabilities with local market understanding and placing client partnerships at the centre of its business strategy.

“Leadership today is about building businesses that can anticipate change, bring together the right capabilities and, most importantly, create lasting value for clients,” said Omnicom Media CEO Kartik Sharma.

He added that the recognition reflected the collective ambition of his teams and the confidence clients place in the agency.

The IAA Leadership Awards recognise leaders, ideas and achievements that have made a measurable impact on marketing, brands and businesses.

The Media Agency Head of the Year award adds to Sharma’s growing list of industry recognitions and further underlines his role in shaping India’s evolving media agency landscape.

As media buying, content, data and technology become increasingly intertwined, Sharma’s latest recognition comes as the agency business moves towards more integrated models where the real prize is not simply media reach, but measurable business impact.