MAM
Komli Media restructures APAC team
MUMBAI: Digital media technology network Komli Media has restructured its business teams to further accelerate growth and meet customers‘ needs.
Komli Media India and North America managing director Gulshan Verma has been promoted to the role of Chief Revenue Officer (CRO) and will be responsible for all of Komli‘s business P&L. This new CRO Organisation will consist of all the regional and business managing directors across Komli Media worldwide.
Prior to this, Verma has served Komli Media for over two years as its Vice President and country head for India & North America.
Komli Media co-founder of and Southeast Asia (SEA) managing director Akshay Garg will take on the new role heading strategy and business operations across Komli globally. Garg was earlier vice president, international, for nearly three years at Komli Media during which he led Komli‘s international growth and strategy across UK, Australia and SEA, successfully leading all our international acquisitions and growing the SEA business to being the largest independent media network in the region.
Both will report to Komli Media CEO Prashant Mehta.
The newly created CRO Organisation will focus on addressing the marketer‘s need for integrated media solutions including those leveraging Komli‘s proprietary ATOM real-time bidding and mobile platforms.
The CRO Organisation will have several new additions. Mathew Ward has been promoted to Komli Media SEA while Pritesh Patel has been made Komli Media India & Middle East managing director. Matt Sutton has been promoted to Komli Engage and Play managing director. He will be responsible for Komli Media‘s Social and video solutions across all markets. Varsha Brajesh has been promoted to data & analytics director. All of them will join Komli Mobile vice president and managing director Amit Bhartiya and Komli Media Australia and New Zealand managing director Andrew Reid in the CRO Organisation.
Mehta said, “I am delighted to announce the new CRO Organization and strategy and operations function at Komli Media. Consumer behavior is changing across desktop, mobile, social and video in our core markets and therefore the message from our customers is very clear – we need to have an integrated approach that enables our sales teams to cross-sell solutions. Addressing this immediate need, Komli Media created the CRO Organisation, responsible for maximizing revenues and margins across all regions and products. The need for a dedicated strategy, planning and business operations is equally key to Komli‘s ability to scale, improve alignment across units and sharpen focus on key strategic priorities. With the development of the CRO Organization and the Strategy function, we are well-poised to scale our business successfully across APAC.”
Verma said, “Komli Media has grown by leaps and bounds through a combination of great technology, best publisher partners and a world-class team. I look forward to ensuring that we continue to successfully uphold our commitment towards clients across APAC.” Akshay Garg said, “Since its founding more than six years ago, Komli Media has experienced rapid growth to become the leading independent media network across the APAC region. In my new role, I‘m looking forward to optimizing our strategy, planning and operations functions to scale our business and increase market share across APAC.”
MAM
VML India lands two finalist spots at Cairns Hatchlings 2026
The Mumbai agency is back in Australia with two teams, a UN brief and 24 hours to impress
MUMBAI: VML India is heading to Australia again. The Mumbai-based creative agency has secured two finalist spots at the Cairns Hatchlings 2026 competition, one in the Audio category and one in Design, making it the only Indian agency to have reached the finals in both editions of the contest since its launch in 2025.
Four people will make the trip. Senior copywriter Shilpi Dey and senior art director Raj Thakkar will compete in Audio. Art directors Shabbir and Shruti Negi will go head-to-head with the world’s best in Design. The finals take place at the Cairns Convention Centre from 13th May, culminating in an awards ceremony on 15th May.
The work that got them there is worth examining. For the Audio category, Dey and Thakkar tackled a brief for LIVE LIKE MMAD with a campaign called Inner Voice, Interrupted. Using spatial audio techniques, the campaign recreates the overwhelming self-doubt that descends after a long workday, physically panning negative thoughts left and right before cutting the noise entirely to reveal a confident inner voice. Strategically targeted at commuters via Spotify during evening rush hours, the campaign reframes the hours after work as an opportunity for personal growth and charitable action.
For the Design category, Shabbir and Negi worked on a brief for Canteen’s Bandanna Day, a campaign highlighting how cancer pushes teenagers out of their own defining moments. Using a pixelated design language to create stark contrast between a blurred world of isolation and a focused world of connection, the campaign, titled The Flipside of Cancer, shows teenagers fading into the background of birthdays, skateparks and school proms. As a Canteen bandanna appears, the blur flips and the teenager snaps back into sharp focus.
Kalpesh Patankar, group chief creative officer of VML India, made no attempt to disguise his satisfaction. “We are immensely proud to see our teams consistently excel on the Cairns Hatchlings platform since its inception,” he said. “They have masterfully tackled challenging briefs across diverse categories, demonstrating both layered storytelling and a unique creative approach. This exceptional teamwork is truly inspiring.”
Dey and Thakkar, returning to the finals after last year’s run, were candid about the demands of the audio medium. “It’s one of the most demanding mediums, where we only have a few seconds to capture a listener’s world with sound alone, so absolute clarity is essential,” they said. “The true measure of creative work is its ability to create positive change, and our audio submission was made to help those who need it most while encouraging people to silence the inner voices that hold them back.”
Shabbir and Negi, competing in Design for the first time, described the experience as “a completely different beast.” “We see it as an opportunity to showcase our expertise, raise the bar, and challenge ourselves in new ways, while also learning from creative minds from across the globe,” they said.
In Australia, the four finalists will face a live 24-hour brief from the United Nations before presenting in a live pitch session. Twenty-four hours, one brief, one shot. VML India has been here before. It knows exactly what is at stake.
