MAM
Media Magazine names GroupM’s Prasanth Kumar as best media planner/buyer in Asia
MUMBAI: For GroupM India it was a great way to end 2005. GroupM Bangalore investment director Prasanth Kumar has bagged the ‘best media planner/buyer in Asia’ award, given by the Hong Kong-based Media Magazine at a function held on 14 December.
The Media Magazine awards recognises outstanding work in media planning/ buying, creative, one-to-one, marketing, account/ business developments and many more, across the Asia Pacific region.
Prasanth Kumar has been with GroupM since 2004. Kumar was earlier with TME, Mumbai. He is a key member of GroupM investment team, headed by Lakshmi Narasimhan.
Kumar oversees buying for key GroupM clients in the south, including Britannia, Titan, Himalaya, Ford, IBM etc.
Among the big media innovations he has helped pull off are the Lenovo computer branding in KBC2, and the Titan-MTV partnership deal that helped launch the Titan-MTV Masala watch collection.
He won an award for the best use of analytics in media negotiations, for the Britannia case study that he presented in GroupM’s regional buying conference in Bangkok earlier this year.
According to a media release, senior managers at GroupM India were delighted with Prasanth’s win, as it was a double treat, coming along with Mindshare winning the agency network of the year in Asia Pacific.
GroupM South Asia CEO Ashutosh Srivastava says, ” The award for Prasanth is a fantastic recognition for India based media talent”.
GroupM India investments head Lakshmi Narasimhan says, “Prasanth typifies the best of GroupM trading with his high energy, never-say-die spirit and rigorous approach. The team at GroupM trading is ecstatic because this is the first time a buyer has been a winner in this category.”
MAM
Time brings TIME100 Next franchise to India with Reliance
List to spotlight 100 emerging leaders, gala set for December 2026 in Mumbai.
MUMBAI: It’s about time India’s next wave got a global spotlight and now, it’s on the list. New York-headquartered Time is expanding its TIME100 Next franchise to India, partnering with Reliance Industries Limited to launch TIME100 Next India, its first international extension of the rising leaders platform. The announcement was made at the Time100 Gala in New York by Jessica Sibley and Nita Mukesh Ambani, signalling a strategic push to tap into India’s growing influence across sectors.
The India edition will recognise 100 emerging leaders from the country and the global Indian diaspora, spanning business, science, sports, arts and social impact. The list will be curated by Time’s editorial team and published online, continuing the franchise’s focus on identifying individuals shaping the future.
The initiative will culminate in a gala event scheduled for December 2026 at the Nita Mukesh Ambani Cultural Centre, anchoring the platform within India’s cultural and business ecosystem.
TIME’s broader Time100 franchise has steadily expanded its global footprint since 2021 through events and impact-led initiatives. Executives noted that India’s growing pool of influential voices and innovators made it a natural next step for the platform’s international ambitions.
For Reliance, the partnership aligns with its broader push to support emerging talent and ideas on a global stage. For Time, it marks a timely bet on India not just as a market, but as a talent engine shaping the next chapter of global leadership.
