MAM
Online ad industry to touch $50 bn this year: Don Epperson
MUMBAI: The chairman and Global CEO of Havas Digital, Don Epperson, has said that online advertising was one of the fastest growing mediums in India.
According to him, the online advertising industry was estimated to touch $50 billion by the end of this year in the US alone while other markets too were poised for a similar growth.
Epperson was in Hyderabad recently for the launch of Centre of Excellence (CoE) that would provide marketing and digital services for clients worldwide by his company that is a diversified advertising and online marketing solutions provider. The Centre, headed by Ravi Kabra, would employ about 20 people for now.
The CEO was of the view that India has emerged as an important business destination for multinational corporations and many Indian companies are going global, requiring expertise to address this space.
Referring to the growth of online advertising, Epperson said that the largest categories of advertisers were Internet players, real-estate firms and financial services companies. Online gaming and sports are two other major categories.
Among the top six global advertising and marketing solutions provider, Havas Digital has clients such as Air France, Vodafone, Emirates, Peugeot, Cap Gemini and works with Google, Yahoo and MSN for online advertising-related business.
The company plans to launch a mobile-based services arm in India soon.
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.
