Rajat Vij joins Havas Media Network India as associate director, growth and new business

DELHI: Ad sales, alliances, search, new business: Rajat Vij has done the lot, and now he is taking it to Havas. Vij has started a new chapter as associate director, growth and new business, at Havas Media Network India, working from Gurugram from October 2026.

The move caps nearly a decade spent on the selling side of Indian digital media. Vij arrives from Sociowash in New Delhi, where he was lead, new business, from May 2024 to October 2026, a stint of two years and six months. At Havas, the job is the same in spirit and bigger in scale: bring in new clients and help brands grow.

Vij announced the move on LinkedIn in upbeat terms. He said he is looking forward to building new relationships, exploring exciting opportunities, collaborating with great teams and helping brands grow through impactful marketing solutions. He called it an exciting new chapter and said he was excited about everything that lies ahead.

The route to Havas runs through some of the more demanding seats in the business. At Merkle Sokrati in Gurugram, Vij was senior manager, business development and strategy, from August 2022 to March 2024, a period of one year and eight months. His profile lists new business development and search engine optimisation among his skills there. Before that he spent three years, from August 2019 to July 2022, as business alliance manager at Logicserve Digital in Gurugram, where client relations and digital strategy feature among his listed skills.

The foundations were laid at Times Internet, where he was senior officer, ad sales, from December 2016 to July 2019, or two years and eight months, again in Gurugram. His listed skills from that role include display advertising and branding.

The analysis is simple. New business is the engine of any media network, and it rewards people who understand both sides of the table. Vij has sold display inventory at a publisher, built alliances at a digital agency, pitched performance and search at a data-led marketing firm and led new business at Sociowash. That mix of publisher, performance and agency experience is the sort of range a network needs when pitches are won on credibility as much as on price. Havas gets a dealmaker who knows how clients buy.

For Vij, the appointment is a step up in title and in stage. For Havas Media Network India, it adds a seasoned hand to its growth and new business effort at a time when brands want partners who can show results.

From ad sales desk to associate director, the climb has been steady. Now comes the part where it is Havas that must keep up.