MAM
Who is Shekhar Banerjee, WPP Media’s new president for client solutions?
MUMBAI: Recently elevated to president, client solutions, South Asia at WPP Media, Banerjee steps into the role with more than two decades of experience across media strategy, digital transformation and large-scale agency leadership. His appointment follows the departure of Ajay Gupte and signals WPP Media’s intent to double down on effectiveness, integration and client-centric growth.
At the time of his promotion, Banerjee was serving as chief client officer and office head for west, north and east India at Wavemaker, where he has spent the last seven years building one of the most decorated media operations in the world.
A career built on effectiveness
Banerjee joined Wavemaker in 2018 and quickly became central to its rise as a global benchmark for media effectiveness. Under his leadership, Wavemaker India became the only media agency worldwide to win a Cannes Titanium Lion in 2022 and topped WARC’s global effectiveness rankings in 2023 and 2025, while placing second in 2024.
Domestically, the agency has been repeatedly named agency of the year at the EMVIES and MMG awards, reflecting a consistent ability to translate creativity into measurable business outcomes.
His client portfolio has spanned some of the country’s most competitive categories, working closely with brands such as Mondelez, L’Oréal, Colgate, Reckitt, Netflix, Vodafone Idea, Dream11, Red Bull, FirstCry and others. Known for his hands-on approach, Banerjee has been deeply involved in client development, often partnering leadership teams through moments of market disruption and transformation.
From Madison to Wavemaker
Before Wavemaker, Banerjee spent over 13 years at Madison Media, rising to the role of chief operating officer. There, he led multiple agency units and spearheaded business transformation projects that reshaped Madison’s operating model.
He was instrumental in building a hybrid creative-media offering at a time when digital integration was still nascent in India, developing cross-media toolkits and helping scale revenue across traditional and digital platforms. During this period, Madison Media consistently ranked among India’s top agencies, with marquee clients including Marico, Asian Paints, Godrej, Mondelez and McDonald’s.
A digital-first mindset, early on
Banerjee’s reputation as a digital-native leader was forged early. He was among the first to set up an integrated digital unit within a media agency, delivering end-to-end solutions spanning creative strategy, development and media deployment.
Even earlier, at UTV, he worked in strategic planning for new businesses and played a role in the launch of Hungama TV, India’s first indigenous kids’ entertainment channel—a formative experience that placed him at the intersection of content, commerce and audiences.
A leadership style rooted in scale and systems
Across roles, Banerjee has been known less for grandstanding and more for building systems that last—scalable structures, empowered teams and frameworks that allow creativity to deliver business impact. Over the years, work delivered under his leadership has been associated with more than 1,000 Indian and global awards, making him one of the most awarded media professionals in the country.
In his new role at WPP Media, Banerjee will oversee client solutions across South Asia, with a mandate to strengthen partnerships, integrate capabilities across platforms, and prepare clients for an increasingly fragmented and data-driven media environment.
The bigger picture
Banerjee’s elevation reflects a broader shift within the media industry—away from siloed thinking and towards integrated, outcome-led solutions. As platforms multiply and consumer attention fragments, his career offers a blueprint for navigating complexity without losing focus on what matters most.
In an industry often driven by noise, Shekhar Banerjee’s rise has been built on something far more durable: effectiveness, consistency and trust.
AD Agencies
Abhay Duggal joins JioStar as director of Hindi GEC ad sales
The streaming giant brings in a seasoned revenue hand as the battle for Hindi television advertising heats up
MUMBAI: Abhay Duggal has a new desk, and JioStar has a new weapon. The media and entertainment veteran has joined JioStar as director of entertainment ad sales for Hindi general entertainment channels, adding 17 years of hard-won revenue experience to one of India’s most powerful broadcasting operations.
Duggal is no stranger to big portfolios or bruising markets. Before joining JioStar, he spent a brief stint at Republic World as deputy general manager and north regional head for ad sales. Before that, he put in three years at Enterr10 Television, where he ran the north region for Dangal TV and Dangal 2, two of India’s leading free-to-air Hindi channels. The north alone accounted for more than 50 per cent of total channel revenue on his watch, a number that tends to get attention in any sales meeting.
His longest stint was at Zee Entertainment Enterprises, where he spent over six years rising to associate director of sales. There he commanded the Hindi movies cluster across seven channels, owned more than half of north India’s revenue across flagship properties including Zee TV and &TV, and closed marquee sponsorships across the Indian Premier League, Zee Rishtey Awards and Dance India Dance. He also handled monetisation for the English movies and entertainment cluster and the global news channel WION, a portfolio that would stretch most sales teams twice his size.
Earlier in his career Duggal closed what was then a Rs 3 crore single deal at Reliance Broadcast Network, one of the largest in Indian radio at the time, before that he helped launch and monetise JAINHITS, India’s first HITS-based cable and satellite platform.
His edge, by his own account, lies in marrying data and instinct: translating audience trends, inventory signals and client demands into long-term partnerships built on cost-per-rating-point discipline rather than short-term deal chasing. In a media landscape being reshaped by streaming, fragmented attention and AI-driven advertising, that kind of rigour is increasingly rare and increasingly valuable.
JioStar, which blends the scale of Reliance’s Jio platform with the content firepower of Star, is doubling down on its advertising business at precisely the moment the Hindi GEC market is getting more competitive. Bringing in someone who has spent nearly two decades doing exactly this, across some of India’s most watched channels, is a pointed statement of intent. Duggal has spent his career turning audiences into revenue. JioStar is clearly betting he can do it again, and bigger.
