MAM
Madison Media ropes in Vishal, Ambica and Akanksha for key roles
Trio joins to drive digital and integrated growth in North & East
DELHI: Madison Media is giving its North and East operations a fresh jolt of energy, bringing in three senior professionals to strengthen its digital and integrated media leadership.
Vishal Kumar has joined the agency as vice president, digital business for the North and East. He will steer the region’s digital growth plans, working closely with chief digital officer Vivek Das and COO Mimi Deb.
This is a homecoming for Vishal, who returns to Madison with more than 18 years of experience across marketing, media and digital transformation. An alumnus of Xavier Institute of Management, Bhubaneswar, he spent nearly eight and a half years at GroupM, most recently leading the digital practice for Wavemaker North. His work earned recognition at industry platforms such as the Emvies and Goafest.
Most recently, he founded LeapX.ai, a Nasscom awarded start up that builds AI agents for paid digital advertising, sharpening his expertise at the crossroads of data, technology and performance marketing.
Madison has also added two more senior hires to the North and East leadership team. Ambica Chaudhary joins as deputy general manager, integrated media, while Akanksha Panwar comes on board as deputy general manager, digital business.
Ambica brings more than 15 years of experience across global agency networks including Starcom, Wavemaker and most recently PHD. She has handled integrated media planning for brands across categories such as CPG, smartphones, luxury fashion, mobility and life sciences, including managing Unilever’s media mandate in North America. At Madison, she will focus on building client centric, integrated media solutions for the region.
Akanksha also comes with over 15 years of experience, spanning software engineering, IT and digital advertising. An MBA from the University of Nottingham, she spent the last six years with WPP Media and previously held digital leadership roles at Dentsu. She has delivered full funnel strategies across sectors such as CPG, electronics, fashion and health insurance, and her work has been recognised at the Emvies, Indian Digital Marketing Awards and Campaign India Digital Crest Awards.
Speaking on his return, Vishal said it was an exciting time to be back as the company moves ahead with its Madison 3.0 vision. He added that his recent experience building LeapX.ai at the intersection of AI, data and performance marketing would help scale digital growth and strengthen tech and data capabilities in the region.
Mimi Deb said the new appointments would add fresh depth to the leadership team. She noted that Vishal’s expertise in data and technology, along with Akanksha’s digital experience and Ambica’s global exposure, would help drive the next phase of growth across the North and East markets.
Vivek Das added that the hires were strategic bets on digital first growth. He said Vishal’s mix of platform scale, AI entrepreneurship and agency experience would help translate Madison’s AI powered tools into sharper strategies and stronger brand commerce integration, while Ambica and Akanksha would reinforce integrated planning and full funnel execution.
With the new trio in place, Madison appears set to press the accelerator on its digital ambitions in the North and East.
MAM
Sleepwell unveils nationwide sleep study on World Sleep Day
79 per cent use screens before bed, 36 per cent of 18–25-year-olds sleep ≤5 hours.
MUMBAI: Sleepwell just dropped the pillow truth bomb because when India’s sleeping less and scrolling more, even the mattress wants to stage an intervention. On World Sleep Day 2026, Sleepwell released its nationwide Sleep Study, painting a stark picture of India’s escalating sleep crisis. The findings show that 79% of Indians use screens right before bed, fuelling restless nights and drowsy days. Alarmingly, 36% of young adults aged 18–25 sleep five hours or less making them the country’s most sleep-deprived group.
The study also busts the myth of “catch-up sleep”, 65% of respondents actually sleep even later on weekends, pointing to increasingly irregular patterns that spill fatigue into the working week. Mattress discomfort emerged as a frequently overlooked culprit behind late-night wake-ups and constant leak-anxiety checks.
To drive the message home, Sleepwell’s CMO Puneet Gulati appeared on Zee Business, stressing that quality sleep isn’t a luxury, it’s foundational health. He highlighted how the right mattress can transform restless nights into restorative ones.
The brand doubled down with clever late-night activations, partnering with a quick-commerce platform to serve contextual ads between 11 pm and 3 am, gently nudging bleary-eyed scrollers to consider mattress discomfort as the reason they’re still awake and pointing them to the nearest Sleepwell store. Digital influencers and creators also shared relatable stories of how poor sleep fuels impulsive late-night behaviour.
In a nation that celebrates hustle but quietly pays for it in lost rest, Sleepwell isn’t just selling mattresses, it’s selling the radical idea that sometimes the bravest thing you can do is close your eyes and actually sleep well.
