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WPP’s Data Alliance expands with India launch
MUMBAI: WPP has launched Data Alliance in India with an aim to enhance data-driven solutions and activate e-commerce, mobile, and social data strategies. The Mumbai based operation will draw upon expertise from WPP’s global network to India to harness unique data sets. The focus is to accelerate development and enhancement of data-driven solutions while activating e-commerce, mobile and social data strategies in India. India is the first market to launch Data Alliance in the Asia-Pacific region.
WPP’s Data Alliance in India is supported by GroupM (Mindshare, Maxus, MEC, Mediacom, Motivator, Xaxis and Madhouse), Kantar (IMRB, Millward Brown, TNS and Worldpanel), Wunderman and Ogilvy. Collectively, these companies will partner on projects to enhance the use of data across WPP solutions increasing speed, cross-fertilization and decreasing costs in this strategic market.
This launch is part of a campaign in WPP for “data horizontality” – the ability to better leverage WPP’s people, data and technology across the globe and replicates models in United States, United Kingdom and Sub-Saharan Africa.
“Data Alliance has successfully implemented ‘data horizontality’ by helping WPP companies access and leverage data creatively and optimally across multiple verticals and geographies, Growing in India is an exciting opportunity for WPP to scale enterprise data assets and partnerships for e-commerce, mobile and social data-driven marketing,” said Data Alliance director of global partnerships Anas Ghazi.
“We are thrilled to help bring Data Alliance to India. Data is forming the foundation layer of smarter decision making and with strong emergence of digital channels data is becoming an increasingly critical part of the conversation with our clients. Data Alliance is a powerful way to help us shape the market and provide competitive advantage to all our clients across a very broad range of data requirements,” said GroupM South Asia chief strategy officer Tushar Vyas.
“There is a tremendous opportunity for Wunderman in India to work with Data Alliance to bring a much richer set of data into everything we do for clients, from generating insights to targeting our work, to measuring results,” said Wunderman Global CEO Mark Read.
“In today’s complex environment we need to deliver consumer understanding from multiple lenses to our clients, Data Alliance offers the ability to leverage diverse datasets for rich insights across multiple data sources to better understand motivations behind consumer behavior to help clients transform consumer insight into business impact,” added Kantar Group’s IMRB International senior vice president Hemant Mehta.
NEW DELHI: Hamdard Laboratories gathered a cross-section of India’s achievers in New Delhi on Friday, handing out the Hakeem Abdul Hameed Excellence Awards to figures who have left their mark across healthcare, education, sport, public service and the arts.
The ceremony, attended by minister of state for defence Sanjay Seth and senior officials from the ministry of Ayush, celebrated individuals whose work blends professional success with a sense of public purpose. It was as much a roll call of achievement as it was a reminder that influence is not measured only in profits or podiums, but in people reached and lives improved.
Among the headline awardees was Alakh Pandey, founder and chief executive of PhysicsWallah, recognised for turning affordable digital learning into a mass movement. On the sporting front, Arjuna Awardee and kabaddi player Sakshi Puniya was honoured for her contribution to the game and for pushing women’s participation onto bigger stages.
The cultural spotlight fell on veteran lyricist and poet Santosh Anand, whose songs have echoed across generations of Hindi cinema. At 97, Anand accepted the honour with characteristic humility, reflecting on a life shaped by perseverance and hope.
Healthcare honours spanned both modern and traditional systems. Manoj N. Nesari was recognised for strengthening Ayurveda’s place in national and global health frameworks. Padma shri Mohammed Abdul Waheed was honoured for his research-backed work in Unani medicine, while padma shri Mohsin Wali received recognition for his long-standing contribution to patient-centred care.
Education and social development also featured prominently. Padma shri Zahir Ishaq Kazi was honoured for decades of work in education, while former Meghalaya superintendent of Police T. C. Chacko was recognised for public service. Goonj founder Anshu Gupta received an award for his dignity-centred rural development initiatives, and the Hunar Shakti Foundation was honoured for empowering women and young girls through skill development.
The Lifetime Achievement Award went to former IAS officer Shailaja Chandra for her long career in public healthcare and governance, particularly in the traditional systems under Ayush.
Speaking at the event, Hamdard chairman Abdul Majeed said the awards were a tribute to those who combine excellence with empathy. “These awardees reflect Hakeem Sahib’s belief that healthcare, education and public service must ultimately serve humanity,” he said.
Minister Seth struck a forward-looking note, saying India’s young population gives the country a unique opportunity to become a global destination for learning, health and wellness by 2047.
The ceremony also featured the trailer launch of Unani Ki Kahaani, an upcoming documentary starring actor Jim Sarbh, set to premiere on Discovery on 11 February.
Instituted in memory of Unani scholar and educationist Hakeem Abdul Hameed, the awards have grown into a national platform that celebrates those building a more inclusive and resilient India. For one evening at least, the spotlight was not just on success, but on service with substance.
