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WPP inks global partnership with Acquia
MUMBAI: WPP has inked a global partnership with digital experience company Acquia to offer clients a full-service digital marketing and technology solution.
The new partnership brings together WPP’s existing Acquia partners – which include Globant, Hogarth, Mirum, Possible, Rockfish, VML and Wunderman – under the umbrella of the WPP-Acquia Alliance.
The WPP-Acquia Alliance is the world’s largest Acquia Certified partner and has two Acquia MVPs. Its members will draw on Acquia software, training and certification, collaborate on new business pitches, and share project resources.
Under the agreement, WPP agencies will provide creative, UX and development resources to Acquia clients, while Acquia will provide its open cloud platform to the WPP-Acquia Alliance to deliver projects. The WPP-Acquia Alliance is part of WPP’s Technology Partnership Program, an initiative led by chief digital officer and chief strategy officer Scott Spirit to coordinate and promote the Group’s relationships with key providers of marketing technology services.
Acquia provides an open cloud platform for building, delivering and optimising digital experiences. Organisations rely on the Acquia Platform to unify content, community and commerce. The company harnesses the open source content management system Drupal, which was created by Acquia founder and CTO Dries Buytaert. Drupal is used by many of the world’s largest organisations. The Acquia Platform provides a multi-site management solution, continuous support, and an environment for developing and maintaining Drupal sites.
WPP chief digital officer Scott Spirit said, “The growth of the ‘API economy’ is changing marketing, and clients require the ability to integrate existing technologies, data sources and media into a central platform. WPP is committed to working closely with technology leaders, and the creation of the WPP-Acquia Alliance gives us an open source digital experience practice at a time when the market is growing rapidly.”
“We began working with WPP agencies five years ago, and today our combined teams are working together on five continents, and unlocking the creative freedom to launch amazing digital experiences for their clients. The combined WPP-Acquia team, and the disruptive business they’re building, will deliver transformative outcomes to those organizations that are thinking ahead to a mobile-first, browserless world,” added Acquia CEO Tom Erickson.
MAM
Gurpreet Singh named President of DishTV Alumni Network
Former Dish TV executive to lead community building and collaboration.
MUMBAI: Back to the dish, but this time it’s about connections, not channels Gurpreet Singh is returning to familiar territory with a new mandate that swaps subscribers for relationships. Singh has been appointed President of the DishTV Alumni Network, a move aimed at strengthening ties among former employees and building a more engaged professional community around the Dish TV ecosystem. The initiative reflects a growing trend among large organisations to formalise alumni networks as platforms for collaboration, mentorship and business opportunities.
The appointment draws on Singh’s deep-rooted history with Dish TV, where he held multiple leadership roles over nearly a decade. As National Business Head between June 2019 and September 2020, he oversaw profit and loss as well as operations, managing revenues of Rs 6,000 crore and leading a team of around 1,250 employees across the country. His tenure included working alongside two regional business heads and 16 circle heads, underscoring the scale of operations he handled.
Prior to that, Singh served as Executive Vice President and National Head for Sales and Revenue from 2016 to 2019, and earlier as Senior Vice President and National Head for Sales and Revenue. He also briefly led international operations as Country Head for Sri Lanka, further expanding his exposure across markets.
His broader career spans leadership roles across telecom and consumer businesses, including a stint as Chief Operating Officer at Bharti Airtel’s Malawi operations, senior leadership roles at Reliance Communications, and earlier positions at Hindustan Sanitaryware and Kodak India, where he spent over a decade.
In his new role, Singh is expected to focus on reconnecting former employees, fostering collaboration, and building a structured alumni ecosystem that leverages shared experience and industry networks. As companies increasingly recognise the long-term value of their extended workforce, the DishTV Alumni Network appears set to turn nostalgia into a strategic asset, one connection at a time.
