MAM
Prasanth Kumar re-elected as president of AAAI
Mumbai: GroupM Media (India) CEO – South Asia Prasanth Kumar was re-elected as the President of Advertising Agencies Association of India (AAAI) for the year 2024-25 at its Annual General Body Meeting held in Mumbai.
Havas India, South East & North Asia (Japan & South Korea) group CEO Rana Barua was unanimously elected Vice-President of the Association.
Other elected members of the Board in alphabetical order are:
Madison Communications Pvt Ltd Sam Balsara Madison
Everest Brand Solutions Pvt Ltd Tanya Goyal
BEI Confluence Communication Ltd Tapas Gupta
Matrix Publicities and Media India Pvt Ltd Vishandas Hardasani
Havas Media India Pvt Ltd Mohit Joshi
Innocean Worldwide Communications Pvt Ltd Santosh Kumar
Crayons Advertising Pvt Ltd Kunal Lalani
Kinnect Pvt Ltd Rohan Mehta
Advertising Works Pvt Ltd, Cochin Chandramouli Muthu Maitri
Platinum Advertising Pvt Ltd Vikram Sakhuja
Standard Publicity Pvt Ltd Kalyan Sarkar
Advertising Pvt Ltd, Hyderabad, K Srinivas Sloka
Immediate past president, Anupriya Acharya will be the ex-officio member of the AAAI Board for 2024-25.
On this occasion, Kumar said, “I am deeply honoured by the trust AAAI members have placed in me for another term as President of this distinguished institution. Our commitment to championing innovation, upholding the highest standards of planning and creativity, and building on the momentum we have achieved remains unwavering. Our goal is to provide steadfast support to the entire ecosystem, helping the industry navigate challenges and seize new opportunities. With the exceptional team of AAAI members and the broader ecosystem, I am confident we will continue to shape the future of our industry to greater heights.”
Prasanth Kumar is a GroupM veteran having worked in the organisation in various capacities for over 20 years in his overall experience of over two decades in advertising. He has also worked at Pepsi, The Hindu, The Media Edge & McCann Erickson prior to joining GroupM. He has also been Vice President of AAAI during 2020-22.
On his appointment as vice president, Barua said “Being appointed Vice President of AAAI for the third time is both an honor and a testament to the trust the industry places in me. I look forward to continuing our efforts in driving innovation and excellence in advertising while supporting the growth of this dynamic industry.”
Some experienced persons will be inducted on the Board of AAAI and more positions filled up later on to make the Board broad-based.
AD Agencies
Omnicom Advertising Asia assembles new regional leadership team
The group is betting that a blend of creative talent, cultural intelligence and AI-driven data can help brands stay relevant in the world’s most complex marketing region.
Asia has long been the market that humbles the overconfident. Omnicom Advertising Asia is determined not to be among them.
The group announced on Monday the formation of a new regional leadership team of six senior executives, reporting to Sean Donovan, president of OA Asia. The structure is designed to help brands navigate a fragmented, fast-moving consumer landscape and build what Donovan calls “long-term cultural relevance” — the kind that survives a news cycle, a platform shift and an algorithm update.
The team
The six appointments span creativity, innovation, strategy, intelligence, business development and marketing, covering the full arc from brand idea to commercial outcome.
Peter Khoury takes on the role of chief creative officer for OA Asia, Melissa Daniels becomes chief innovation officer, and Emmanuel Sabbagh steps up as chief strategy officer. All three take on expanded regional responsibilities while retaining their leadership positions at TBWA\Singapore.
Andreas Krasser broadens his remit to chief client partner for OA Asia, continuing simultaneously as chief executive of OA Hong Kong. Ellie Brocklehurst joins as chief growth and marketing officer, drawing on her previous stint as chief marketing officer for Asia at TBWA. Rounding out the team is S. Subramanyeswar, known in the industry as Subbu, who was appointed chief knowledge officer for OA Asia alongside his role as chief strategy officer of OA India, a position that followed the close of Omnicom’s acquisition of IPG.The pitch
The team will work in close collaboration with leadership across TBWA, McCann and BBDO throughout the OA Asia network, with a brief to cut through the noise of today’s consumer landscape and deliver creative solutions that, in the group’s framing, prove short-term performance while building long-term brand health.
Underpinning the new structure is OMNI, Omnicom’s AI-driven marketing intelligence platform. The platform draws cultural intelligence from across the group’s agency brands, with the stated aim of ensuring that data is not merely accurate but grounded in context — reflecting how people actually think, feel and behave, rather than how a spreadsheet might prefer them to.
Donovan frames the proposition in straightforward terms. “Asia is one of the most complex regions for marketers, but the opportunity here is immense,” he says. “We’ve built a team that simplifies the landscape, combining top talent with an Asia-first, future-focused mindset, and unprecedented access to resources.” The model, he adds, is designed to be plug-and-play, responding to client needs in collaboration with agencies and markets across the region. “More than expertise, it’s about giving clients the perspective, ambition and access to think beyond the next campaign.”
The new structure also strengthens connections across the broader Omnicom family, including its media, production and PR operations — a post-acquisition suite of capabilities that the group is evidently keen to deploy as a single, coherent offering.
In a region where consumer attention is fractured across dozens of platforms, languages and cultures, the real test will not be the org chart. It will be whether six smart people with the right tools can actually make brands matter. Omnicom is putting its money on yes.
