Past Winners
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The AAAI Lifetime Achievement Award is a prestigious award presented to chosen veterans from the industry who have over twenty five years as practitioners of advertising, who must have or are in top management positions, have been or continue to be active participants in industry bodies and/or made significant contributions in shaping the industry priorities which enabled the industry to grow, prosper and become more professionalized. These individuals are also known for their integrity, ethical practice, leadership qualities, have contributed to their company/companies’ growth by innovative thinking and taking them in newer directions. They have been involved in projects of social consequences which would be seen as role models for the industry at large.
Subhas Ghosal
Subhas Ghosal joined J. Walter Thompson Company Bombay as an Executive Trainee in 1945. He was elected to the Board of Directors in 1957 and became Chief Executive of Hindustan Thompson in 1974. He was a Founder-Member and President of Advertising Club, Calcutta. He was President of the Advertising Agencies Association of India, during the years 1977-78 and 1978-79.He was awarded the ISA-Khatau Gold Medal as Advertising Man of the Year in 1968 and was the first to be elected to the Hall of Fame, Advertising Club, Calcutta in 1980.
Bal Mundkur
Bal Mundkur began his advertising career on January 1, 1951 in D J Keymer, Bombay. He founded Ulka Advertising (Meteor in Sanskrit), on January 1, 1961. Ulka was no.4 on the agency league table when it was sold to the Interpublic Group UK. He relocated to Goa in 1995. Bal Mundkur’s skills in mobilising funds for public causes have helped to finance the building of the Cerebral Palsy Unit at the Crippled Children’s Orthopedic Hospital, to revive the Asiatic Society Library and to resolve the Afghan Memorial Church, all in Mumbai.
K Kurian
K Kurian has been in journalism, advertising and teaching. Wrote a weekly column on advertising and marketing for 15 years. Recipient of the ISA-Khatau Gold Medal 1980 for outstanding contribution to advertising. He was founder and chairman of Radeus Advertising was credited with the creation of such iconic campaigns as Amul Chocolates (I think Im just right for Amul Chocolates), Limca (Lime n Lemoni Limca The thirst choice, etc.) Kurian and Radeus also played a significant role in building the brand of the government owned Life Insurance Corporation.
S R Ayer
Better known as Mani Ayer he led Ogilvy & Mather, India, since 1974. He began his career in advertising in 1959 as a trainee with S H Benson. After a serious of quick moves which included an assignment with S H Benson, London, Manager, Madras and later Manager of the Calcutta office, he was elected to the Board of Directors in 1970. With the merger of S H Benson and Ogilvy & Mather, Mani Ayer was posted to Ogilvy & Mather Melbourne, in 1972. He returned to Bombay as Managing Director, India in 1974. Over the years, Manis position as a leader in the industry and one of the most successful managers in advertising has been unquestioned. His colleagues in New York and London often call him Super Mani - a well-deserved accolade. To his Indian colleagues his leadership is inspirational and at all times encourages civilised behaviour. His acumen in the business of advertising is unquestioned and widely acknowledged.
Alyque Padamsee
In a career spanning more than 30 years, Alyque Padamsee has had many firsts to his credit. Among them, the honour of being the first and as yet the only Indian to be voted into the International Clio Hall of Fame. He won this recognition for his film on handicapped children, the first Indian film to get a Clio statuette. Starting his career in advertising with J Walter Thompson, Alyque Padamsee joined Lintas where he moved from Film Executive to copy Chief to Creative Controller and, in 1980, Chief Executive. Under his leadership the agency had grown to be the No.1 advertising agency in the country. He won the Communicator of The Year Award in 1985 and has made award-winning films on family planning, anti-dowry, national integration and anti-cancer (his Anti- Cancer film won the Lintas Golden Pencil Award for the most creative advertising in the Lintas network of 45 countries in 1992.
Sylvester da Cunha
Sylvester da Cunha is the Chairman and Managing Director, daCunha Associates Pvt Ltd (founded in 1969). He is a graduate (BA Economics) of Bombay University with Fellowship in Mass Communication from Princeton University, USA. He worked as Advertising Executive, LA, Stronchs Advertising, London, Joint Managing Director, Advertising & Sales Promotion Co. (1955- 69), Consultant in communications for World Bank, UNICEF and W.H.O. in Brazil, Indonesia, Turkey, Zambia, Geneva and India. An acclaimed advertising columnist for many years in Economic Times and Business India.
M K Khanna
M K Khanna was the Chief Executive of Hindustan Thompson, Indias largest advertising, market research and public relations organisation. He was a Senior Vice President - International and Area Director - South Asia of J Walter Thompson Company. He was also named Senior Partner of Walter Thompson Worldwide. In 1992 he was inducted into the Advertising Hall of Fame in Calcutta. He is a Past President of the Advertising Agencies Association of India. Mr Khanna started his professional life in market research with SSC&B, New York. An Economics Honours graduate, he obtained his MBA from New York University.
Subroto Sengupta
Subroto Sengupta’s career spanned 40 years in developing advertising campaigns for many of the best-known brands of consumer products, consumer durables and industrial products. He was one of the founder Directors of Clarion Advertising. He retired from Clarion in 1983 as Chief Executive and Executive Vice-Chairman. Before joining Clarion, he worked for D J Keymer Advertising Agency (which later became O&M). He was also associated with communications for Nirodh from its inception and until 1986 was a consultant of the John Hopkins University, Population Communication Services, Baltimore, USA. A post graduate in Economics from Calcutta University Prof. Sengupta later graduated from the Advanced Management Programme (AMP). He was a visiting professor at the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad from 1970-74 and later, as visiting professor, held the STC Chair of Marketing at IIMA from 1974- 78. Professor Sengupta has authored the pioneering book " Cases in Advertising and Communications Management in India and more recently, the best-selling title - Brand Positioning: Strategies for Competition Advantage".
Ravi Gupta
Ravi Gupta was a leading light of the Indian advertising industry and the founder of Trikaya Grey Advertising India Ltd. A mining engineer from University of Wales, Cardiff. Ravi Gupta began his tryst with advertising in 1963, when he joined Ulka. He set up Trikaya advertising in 1977 and joined hands with Grey Inc., New York in 1988. As managing director, he was responsible for turning it into the sixth largest agency with a turnover of around Rs 200 crores in twenty years. Well known in the industry for his innovations in advertising. Ravi Gupta pioneered the corporate and lifestyle genres of adverting in India. ’The Happy days are here again.’ campaign which introduced lifestyle advertising made Thums Up an instant success. Among the widely acclaimed creative campaigns of Trikaya Grey are Thums Up, Mauritius Tourism, arvind Mills, Gujarat Ambuja, Ruf and Tuf jeans & Dunlop Spectrawide. He introduced advertising for new product categories like moulded luggage (Aristocrat) and fire extinguishers (Ceasefire). His comprehension of how to extract the most out of media enabled the agency to win several awards for campaigns in media innovations. Akai and the Lalbhai Group number among these. In 1994, A&M voted him advertising Man of the Year. He was also inducted by the Calcutta AD Club into the advertising Hall of fame.
R K Swamy
RK Swamy joined as an assistant in the Editorial Department of J Walter Thompson Company (Eastern) Limited in Bombay on May 20 1940. He resigned from HTA after 32 years of service. Promoted R K Swamy Advertising Associates Pvt Ltd in 1973 and became Chairman of R K SWAMY/BBDO Advertising Pvt Ltd. Mr Swamy has fashioned and influenced the development of two advertising agencies in his career. The first part of his career was fully devoted to the development of JWT/HTA. The second part of his career has been devoted to the development of R K SWAMY/BBDO. The successes of both organisations stand testimony to his leadership and entrepreneurial abilities.
A G Krishnamurthy
Mr A G Krishnamurthy, founder of Mudra and MICA. Mr Krishnamurthy’s dynamic career mixes all the ingredients of a corporate adventure. Starting out with Calico Mills in 1968, he moved to their Advertising Agency, Shilpi, as an Account Executive In 1976 he moved to Reliance as their Advertising Manager, and four years later founded Mudra Communications. Mudra’s two major brands, Vimal Fabrics and Rasna Soft Drink Concentrate have been nurtured by him from infancy to their current status as two of India’s leading and most recognised brands. Many more have followed since. In 1991 he set up the Mudra Institute of Communications Ahmedabad (MICA), the only advertising institute of its kind in Asia, to feed the growing Indian advertising industry with trained talent.
Mohammed Khan
Mohammed Khan began his career as a copywriter in London 37 years ago. On his return to India he served as Creative Director at daCunha and MCM. Subsequently he founded Rediffusion and was also instrumental in setting up Contract. He then went on to start Enterprise, now Enterprise Nexus, a part of the Lowe Lintas & Partners network. Mohammed Khan has won over a hundred national and international awards including a Clio for three successive years. He was also the first Indian to serve on the Clio Awards Jury and has represented India on various international juries.
Gerson da Cunha
Gerson da Cunha is credited with mobilising advertising agencies to help social causes. He has served as Advisor, Communications in the Ministry of Civil Aviation & Tourism, Information & Broadcasting and Health & Family Welfare at various times since 1968. A Bachelor of Science (BSc) from Bombay University. His illustrious career has seen him spend five years as a journalist in the Press Trust of India-Reuters, 25 years in marketing and advertising in Lintas India and Hindustan Lever, the last ten as head of Lintas. He worked for 10 years in the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) in Latin America and New York in development communications and public information. He has also served as communications advisor to, and on assignment for various Ministries of the Government of India, two years as CEO of Bombay First, a city renewal project. Gerson is now actively involved with civil society programmes, notably in the citizen movement AGNI (Action for good Governance and Networking in India).
Walter Saldanha
Walter Saldanha had humble beginnings in the industry. He started at the level of Secretary/Steno at J Walter Thompson Co. (JWT) in March 1951.He was appointed Assistant Executive 6 months later. In 1953 he was assigned the responsibility of assessing the feasibility of establishing a JWT Branch in Ceylon (now Sri Lanka). Later that year, within a period of 6 months, he established from scratch, JWT’s Ceylon Branch. In 1958 he left JWT, to join Everest Advertising as Senior Accounts Executive. In 1959/60 Walter joined Ayaz Peerbhoy and a few others from Everest Advertising to set up Marketing Advertising Associates (MAA). In 1963 he joined Aiyars Advertising & Marketing as Senior Account Executive and was appointed on the Board a few months later following collaboration with LPE (London Press Exchange), at that time Europe’s largest Agency. In March 1972, Walter along with 13 others from Aiyars, who were prepared to throw in their lot with him, left to form an agency - Chaitra Advertising Pvt Ltd which was born on March 27, 1972. Chaitra tied up with Leo Burnett, Chicago in 1991 following a four years ‘honeymoon’ period, when they acquired a 10% stake in the company Currently, amongst many activities, Walter has set up the Asian Institute of Communication & Research at Neral near Matheran for about 200 Residential Students. This institute is being funded by Walter and represents his contribution to the Profession, the Industry and Society from whom he has received so much.
Arun Nanda
Arun was born with a silver spoon as his title Divan indicates. He was chosen from amongst thousands of candidates for the first batch of IIM Ahmedabad in 1966. He was awarded a gold medal from IIM and shared the honours with Dr C K Prahlad, the famous management guru. He started his career with Hindustan Lever. Thats where he cut his teeth in marketing for the first six years. Thereafter he moved to delve into the exciting world of advertising and no agency was good enough for him so he started his own REDIFFUSION in 1973. Arun is the Chairman of Rediffusion DY&R in India, but more importantly also Chairman of DY&R Wunderman, Asia Pacific and it is out of choice that he is based in India, but in charge of Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia, Singapore, Hong Kong, Philippines, Japan, Korea, Vietnam, China, India, Australia and New Zealand for both DY&R the agency and the Wunderman network. He is also on the board of Y&R USA and on the board of DY&R agency companies in China, Hong Kong, Singapore, Japan and Korea and also a WPP Director on the board of LG Ad. Incorporated in Korea.
Prem Mehta
Prem Mehta was Chairman & Managing Director of Lintas India Pvt Ltd. His professional experience spans over 35 years of marketing, advertising and general management with companies like Forbes Forbes Campbell, Hindustan Lever, Richardson Hindustan and Lintas. When he took over the reins of Lintas India in 1993, it was a single advertising agency with a few clients. In addition to setting up two completely independent advertising agencies: SSC&B Lintas and Quadrant Communications, distinct from Lowe, 15 other integrated communications companies/divisions were setup under his leadership. All these services pre-empted the shape of things to come and today represent a significant part of Lintas India, which has evolved into one of the largest communications groups in the country, ten times larger in the last 11 years. During Prem Mehta’s tenure, Lintas India has become one of the two most successful companies in the Lowe Worldwide system. It has emerged as a critical resource centre and a centre of excellence for Lowe Worldwide which operates in 91 countries through 160 offices. All along, Prem Mehta has been passionately committed to human resource and executive development. Following on with this commitment, he conceived, developed and personally supervised the execution of an executive development centre: Northpoint Centre of Learning. This is a state-of-the-art training facility built on the high slopes of Khandala, over a 100 thousand sq. ft. with conferencing, residential and clubhouse facilities to match the best.
Goutam Rakshit
Like many other advertising professionals, Goutam Rakshit strayed into advertising more by accident than by choice. During his school days at Cathedral, he had dreamt of leading the life of a gentleman farmer, a goal he says he has not yet given up on. Swayed by the imagery surrounding the IITs, he however joined IIT, Powai, to become an Engineer. Once there, visions of spending the rest of his life on the factory floor soon led him to become one of the first dropouts by choice. Going on to finish his MBA from Bajaj with specialisation in Personnel and HRD, he was all set to join TISCO, Jamshedpur, as Executive Assistant to the Chairman, when he was persuaded by Cadbury’s to join as its first Management Trainee, where he had a 8 year stint. Just when his urge for entrepreneurial independence was leading him to think of setting up a fledgling Management Consultancy firm, a chance meeting with one of the doyens of advertising, Subroto Sengupta, opened up for him exciting visions of what the world of advertising had to offer. In 1980 Goutam became an advertising person, a career he has immensely enjoyed over the last 25 years. His ultimate dream for independence came true in 1982, when he was inspired by another visionary, Mr L J Reddy, Chairman, of Maxwell Industries, to start an agency for small, Indian companies who desperately needed the help and personal attention of high caliber advertising professionals. Over the years his Agency has helped build brands such as VIP Hosiery, Onida, Skypak, Parachute, Ravalgaon, and many more. He also holds the unique distinction of having served as Chairman/President of every advertising industry association: AAAI, ABC, NRSC, ASCI. Most recently, Goutam’s entrepreneurial urges propelled him to form a new company, RIPL Ltd, to enter the sunrise segment of organized retail. His flagship mega department store, located in Pune, opened its doors to the public last November, and is growing from strength to strength.
Ranjan Kapur
Ranjan was born in 1942, the year the Quit India movement was started, but the full import of its meaning dawned on him several years later when as a young intern at S H Benson (Ogilvy & previous avatar), he saw his expatriate bosses face expulsion threats from a highly trenchant and well organized union. They finally left in the late sixties, leaving the agency in the hands of Indian managers. The departure of expats from Benson and JWT also left a management vacuum that was filled by very young talent. Ranjan benefited from this as he rose to a board position before his 30th birthday. Ranjan also led the return of the Indian expatriate in the early nineties when he returned from a longish stint in the Far East to lead Ogilvy for the next ten years and to its leadership position. That Ogilvy became Indias most celebrated agency and continues to remain so, is largely attributed to Ranjans ability to identify and empower people to take it to greater and greater heights. He stepped down as Chairman of Ogilvy in 2003 and passed the baton on to the very people he helped empower during his tenure as its CEO. Ranjan is now supposedly retired with a Country Manager & assignment with WPP, board memberships with blue chip corporates and EXCO membership of The Indian Cancer Society and Bombay First.
Sam Balsara
"A slight man who performs giant deeds and has decades of achievement behind him", says The Brand Reporter, (a marketing magazine in India) describing Sam Balsara. The magazine further says, "Unassuming, affable, and a charmer, the soft spoken Balsara hit the headlines in April 08 with a spectacular deal that made the Media world sit up. He acquired a 51% stake in MediaCom in India." Sam is currently the head of the completely Indian owned Madison World, which has 20 units across 10 specialized functions in Advertising, Media, PR, Outdoor, BTL, Rural, Retail, Entertainment, Events and Sports Management. Over the past 21 years, Madison has grown to become a Rs. 20 billion company, employing over 800 communication experts, with offices in India, Sri Lanka and Thailand. Madison Media in 2006 became the first media agency from India to win 2 Cannes Media Lions. Over the past few years, Sam has headed almost every major industry committee or association, including the Advertising Agencies Association of India the Advertising Standards Council of India the Ad Club of Mumbai and the National Readership Studies Council. He served on the jury to judge the prestigious Media Lions awards at the Advertising Festival in Cannes 2 years ago
Piyush Pandey
Piyush Pandey became the national creative director of Ogilvy & Mather India, in 1994 and was inducted to the Ogilvy Worldwide board in 2006. Piyush Pandey has also been named the most influential man in Indian advertising seven years in a row by The Economic Times, India’s premier business newspaper. Under his leadership, O&M India has won twenty five Cannes Lions. Piyush doesn’t think of advertising as a job: When you are having so much fun, how can you call it work? Before working in advertising Piyush was a professional cricketer and tea-taster. Then in the 80s he put away his teacups and hung up his bat to join Ogilvy & Mather, Mumbai. He became its national creative director in 1994. He was inducted to Ogilvy Worldwide board in 2006. More recently, Piyush has been appointed as Vice-Chairman, Asia-Pacific. Under Piyush’s leadership, Ogilvy & Mather India has become a creative powerhouse: It has been named India’s most creative agency ten times in the last eleven years. In 2004, Piyush became the first Asian to be the President of the Cannes jury. He is the only Indian to have won three Grand Prizes at the London International Advertising Awards.
Anil Kapoor
In a career spanning four decades, Anil Kapoor has played various roles in the world of marketing and advertising: Head of Marketing of a large British multinational, a CEO of a pioneering media company and a CEO of a struggling ad agency. One thing that defines him is his ‘Never Say Die’ attitude. When he joined Ulka no one thought he had a chance of saving an agency that was fast sinking. In fact someone who is revered in advertising world even felt that Anil Kapoor was committing hara-kiri by trying to save an ailing Indian agency. Anil proved all his detractors wrong though his passion, attitude and commitment to the cause. He also showed the industry how to build a strong team and keep it together for two decades. How to build an agency group entirely from within, and without the help of international experts and hand-me-down accounts. He demonstrated how to partner clients at senior levels to launch one successful brand after another, in tough market conditions. As Ulka became FCB Ulka and later DraftFCB Ulka, his managerial and leadership skills got recognized on the global stage, many times over. Anil Kapoor, who was seen as an outsider in the Industry, was soon accepted as an equal and may be as a ‘more than an equal’. He went on to play leadership role in various industry bodies such as AAAI and ABC. He was instrumental in setting up the independent NRS survey in the mid 90s. He also played a very vital role in helping the formation of IBF as a body that could work with AAAI to create norms and processes on how agencies work with television. We don’t have too many people in advertising industry today who can fill his shoes. While Anil Kapoor continues to serves as the Chairman Emeritus of Draftfcb Ulka Group and continues to play the role of an advisor to the Group which he built, he has not been involved with industry affairs for almost a decade. It is the industry’s loss that he decided to move on.
Ramesh Narayan
Ramesh Narayan, would have been a journalist if it had been a more remunerative field during the early eighties, when he started off his career. He confesses that he opted for advertising so that he could be a copywriter and be close to his first love, writing. In the course of a two and a half decade stint, he founded and ran an advertising agency called Canco Advertising, occupied almost every leadership position in the advertising industry – including President of the Advertising Agencies Association of India and the Advertising Club, Bombay and he also represented the industry in international professional associations. But he did not lose touch with journalism and wrote regular columns in Mid-Day, The Indian Express, The Sunday Observer, DNA, Business India and The Hindu Business Line. After bagging a slew of creative and other awards, Ramesh decided to wind up his advertising agency in 2006 at the age of 50 “to keep a promise he had made to himself”. Since then he has been running an organic farm off Bangalore, doing some communication consultancy, writing columns and actively associating with many good causes. “I’m lucky I can devote all my time to my hobbies, my passions and my family,” he says. The first thing he did after withdrawing from the hectic pace of the advertising industry was to write a book, “Reflections: The Marketing and Advertising World Around Me”, which was critically acclaimed. He retains his contacts with the advertising industry and is still on the managing committee of the International Advertising Industry. Recently, he drove what has been hailed as the largest public service campaign attempted by the advertising industry in India to raise awareness and money for Dr. Rajendra Pachauri’s Lighting a Billion Lives project. Ramesh also used his photographic skills to hold a widely-acclaimed exhibition in aid of an NGO called Alert India. He holds the landscapes of Maui in Hawaii and the lunarscapes of Mansarovar in Tibet as the most vivid images his lens has been privileged to capture. A member of the Board of Directors of the Rotary Club of Bombay, Ramesh takes active interest in Community Service activities and is a member of the Education, Public Awards and Bulletin Committees. Not many members have registered the fact that Ramesh Narayan is the brain behind the pioneering Bhavishya-Yaan project which is helping change the lives of children from less privileged backgrounds and studying at the ill-kempt municipal schools in the city of Bombay. Ramesh Narayan continues to serve the advertising industry as a Trustee of STACA ( Standing Committee on Advertising). He is also the Chairman of the Awards Governing Council for the Abbys at Goafest 2016.
S V Sista
Mr Shambhu Venkatrao Sista, known to his friends as Bobby has been one of the stalwarts of Indian Advertising. Known for his professional integrity he constantly fought to ensure ethical business practices in a fiercely competitive profession. Mr Sista was trained in Advertising in England. After he returned to India he worked in Sistas for about six years before switching over to marketing Tinopal, a product manufactured by Suhrid-Geigy. Thereafter, he joined Readers Digest as their Marketing Manager. He worked in these companies for five years each. In 1970, he took charge of Sistas Private Ltd., an agency founded by his father, the late Mr Venkatrao Sista, a pioneer of Indian Advertising and the first Indian to establish a full-fledged advertising agency in 1934. Always committed to the growth of the Advertising profession and its image, Mr Sista has held important offices in many councils and associations. He was Vice-President of the Advertising Agencies Association of India (AAAI) for two terms and also served as the Vice-Chairman of the Board of Governors of The Advertising Standards Council of India (ASCI). Also served, for several years, as a Member of the Council of Management, Audit Bureau of circulations (ABC). He was also one of the Founders of "The Advertising Club", Bombay in 1954. In addition to his Social Marketing projects, Mr Sista has explored new disciplines involving Corporate Management and Programmes to unearth and encourage our countrys vast entrepreneurial talent. He is also associated with a Portal started by a colleague, Sanjay Bapat, called "IndianNGOs.com". He is currently focusing his energies on developing Population First - a communications initiative for Sustainable Human Development in India. Population First is a registered Trust which works to build tri-sector partnership between Corporates, NGOs and Media to strengthen the hands of the Government to achieve the National Population Policy 2000 goal of population stabilization by year 2045. As the Executive Trustee of Population First he is actively pursuing the task of enhancing the communications component of Government programmes and mobilizing the communications industry and media to create a peoples movement for social development and population stabilization.
Srinivasan K Swamy
Srinivasan K Swamy popularly known as Sundar Swamy is a Chemical Engineer and an MBA from the Jamnalal Bajaj Institute of Management Studies, Mumbai. He took over the reins of his father’s eponymously named R K Swamy Advertising after his demise in 2003 and has been responsible for its stellar growth in the past decades. Sundar is currently Chairman of the R K Swamy Hansa Group. Apart from running his business, Sundar has been active in various industry forums and associations working towards the growth and development of the Advertising industry. He has been a past President of Advertising Agencies Association of India for three consecutive terms (2004 – 2007) and continues to take an active interest in the Association as an Executive Committee Member. He is the Past Chairman of Confederation of Asian Advertising Agency Associations (2011-2012). He has also served four terms as the President of the India Chapter of International Advertising Association (IAA) and is now the Sr Vice President, IAA Global, which is a Chairman and World President (Elect) position. He is Past Chairman of the Advertising Standards Council of India (ASCI). This year he was also elected as Vice Chairman of Asian Federation of Advertising Associations. He is also a Board Member of the Audit Bureau of Circulations. Recently he entered into the IAA Hall of Fame and was also chosen as IAA Champion by IAA Global. Advertising Club Madras also conferred on him the Distinguished Service Award. Sundar is a Past President of All India Management Association (2008-09). He is also the Past President of The Madras Chamber of Commerce & Industry (2008-10), Madras Management Association (2001-02) and the Advertising Club, Madras (1988-89). Apart from his service to the Advertising Industry Sundar is actively involved with various philanthropic activities viz schools, hospitals et al which benefit a large part of the downtrodden sections of society. (Updated as on Sep 2018)
Roda Mehta
Roda Mehta almost single handedly led the campaign to professionalize the Indian media function. Roda joined HTA in 1971 and became the first woman and first MBA in the media function of an advertising agency in India. In 1975, she joined O&M, where she worked for 23 years rising to become Director - International Client Service. She was on several committees and associations including Expert Committee on TV Marketing for Doordarshan & AIR. She was the Founder Member & Chairperson - Technical Committee of Media Research Users Council (MRUC). She was Chairperson, MRUC during 1994-96. Ms Mehta was also on the Board of several other committees including Advisory Board - Ministry of Information & Broadcasting (Govt of India), AAAI’s Media Disputes Committee etc. She has bagged several prestigious awards including the David Ogilvy Award for Asia Pacific & Agency of the Year Award (Public Service) for National Literacy Mission campaign. Currently she is involved as Member Advisory Board, Pune Inspired - an NGO, looking to inspire Puneites in improving their surroundings and thereby their city. She is also associated with several other noble organisations including Trustee of Lila Poonawalla Foundation, which provides scholarships to economically challenged girls from Maharashtra for post-graduate, graduate/diploma and secondary school education.
Ram Sehgal
Ram Sehgal literally established Delhi as a premier centre for advertising in India – it was this foundation that later led JWT Delhi to become the largest office in India and among the largest in the world; he moulded ‘Contract Advertising’ into one of the finest agencies of the day in so much that it was fiercely independent and a worthy rival to its own parent HTA; he attracted and nurtured some of the finest talent to ‘Contract Advertising’ across disciplines; he lead Contract to be recognised as a powerhouse for strategy and creative; he led AAAI by establishing one of the finest training programs in the industry ever; he set the highest standards of professionalism that became the standard for generations that followed. Under Ram Sehgal’s pioneering leadership, Contract set up a direct marketing division (Contract Direct, which later morphed into a social media and digital marketing solutions provider under a new name iContract) and also a strategic design and identity unit (Design Sutra) in the early nineties – well ahead of the curve and both, audacious (given Contract’s size at that time) and visionary (as many larger agencies followed with similar units, much later). Another big initiative of Contract that was lauded by the industry was the ‘Windows’ training program. Put together by Subhas Ghosal, Prof Subroto Sengupta and Ram Sehgal, candidates who were young and raw, but highly talented, were selected and put through a three-month classroom program. Such was the stature of the program that many big names of that time, including Piyush Pandey, agreed to be the guest faculty. If his upbringing in the ashram at Pondicherry (and his continued involvement with social work there) has made him spiritual, his leadership of Contract made him spirited. And, under him, this was the start-up agency even before the term even became fashionable, skilled, agile, liberated and process-led.
Madhukar Kamath
Madhukar Kamath is a distinguished alumnus of XLRI, Jamshedpur and Loyola College, Chennai. Madhukar has more than four decades of experience in the Advertising Industry and has spent over twenty-five years in the erstwhile Mudra now the DDB Mudra Group. Under his leadership, Mudra transformed itself from an Advertising Agency into one of India’s leading Integrated Marketing Communications Groups. Madhukar also played a key role in the Omnicom acquisition of the Mudra Group and the integration with the Global DDB Network. Subsequently, he facilitated the entry of Interbrand, the leading Global Brand Consultancy into India, and functioned as its Chairman. Currently, Madhukar is the Chairman Emeritus of the DDB Mudra Group and Mentor Interbrand India. Madhukar has actively participated in and has led several industry bodies. He was Vice President of AAAI (2005-07) and President of AAAI (2007-09). During his tenure as President, AAAI, Madhukar initiated and concluded the entry of media agencies in the fold of AAAI after amending the constitution of AAAI. During Madhukar’s tenure an IAMAI-AAAI joint agreement was signed for the promotion and smooth working of Digital media. He also led the AAAI’s involvement in creation of BARC. Madhukar played a vital role in conceiving and facilitating one industry- one award program and The Advertising Club joined hands with AAAI for its prestigious Goafest. This led to Abby Awards being presented at Goafest since 2008. Mr Kamath worked closely with presidents of IBF, ISA and INS in organizing AdAsia 2011 in New Delhi. He was also Chairman of ASCI (The Advertising Standards Council of India). Madhukar took forward the legacy of A G Krishnamurthy in building MICA and establishing it as India’s leading business School for Strategic Marketing and Communication Management. He was the Chairman of Mudra Foundation from 2003 to 2017. He was also the Chairperson of the Governing Council of MICA from 2010-17. In 2013, Madhukar became an Executive Board member of Plan International India, which is a not- for-profit organization striving to advance children’s rights and equality for girls, thus creating a lasting impact. Helping Plan India reach an impact on the lives of 10 million girl children as a part of their Country Strategic Plan, is also very close to his heart. Madhukar joined the Board of Music Broadcast India (Radio City) in 2017.
Krishan Premnarayen
Krishan Premnarayen was the youngest President of AAAI when he took charge as President in 1988 at the age of 36 years. Krishan devoted substantial time and energy towards reviving the relevance of the Association to become a source of support for member agencies and a strong Industry Body to interact with other industry and government bodies. It was during his tenure that it started getting due recognition from the Government. Due to his efforts, I&B Ministry, Doordarshan, AIR etc. started inviting AAAI to work with them on several issues like Accreditation, Credit etc. Under his Presidency, AAAI introduced the concept of Creative Seminars and Workshops. The first full-day event titled ‘The Creative Fishbowl’ was held at the Taj Mahal Hotel in Mumbai which had a distinguished panel of thought leaders viz. Subhas Ghosal, Alyque Padamsee, Ravi Gupta etc. Long after his tenure as President of AAAI, Krishan Premnarayen continued to chair the key AAAI-Government Relationship Committee on vital issues like Tax on advertising, Service Tax, Doordarshan participation in TV viewership measurement etc. Besides his contribution to the industry at AAAI, Krishan Premnarayen also served as Chairman of the Audit Bureau of Circulation (ABC) and Chairman of the National Readership Survey Council (NRSC). In the formative years of the NRSC he played a stellar role in getting all institutions to participate in a pathbreaking initiative for the industry. It was during his tenure that the foundation was laid to make AAAI the legitimately recognized body for the advertising industry across constituencies. He must also be given due credit for vastly strengthening AAAI’s relationships with the media industry – including while he was at the helm of ABC and NRSC.
Arvind Sharma
Arvind Sharma is an alumnus of the Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad- 1977 batch. He served as head of Leo Burnett, South Asia for well over two decades. In his last corporate role, Arvind was a member of the Global Leadership Council of Leo Burnett Worldwide. In 2015, Arvind turned an independent director and a tech & internet entrepreneur. After leaving IIMA, Arvind spent his first few years in marketing before switching to advertising. For well over three decades Arvind has been closely associated with famous multinational and Indian brands in India and internationally. His clients included multinational clients like Procter & Gamble, Heinz, Coca-Cola, McDonald’s, General Mills, Samsung, SAB Miller and large local Indian groups like Bajaj, Godrej, HDFC, Reliance, Tatas & Wipro. Arvind has also been the copywriter behind a number of famous campaigns in India including, 'Ye kya haal banaa rakha hai kuch lete kyon nahin' for Coldarin and the ‘Aam admi’ campaign that brought the Congress-led UPA government to power. Under Arvind’s leadership, Leo Burnett Mumbai achieved the distinction of joining the list of creatively 20 most awarded agencies in the world. Between 2000 & 2010, Leo Burnett Mumbai was awarded the Global Agency of the Year in the Leo Burnett network thrice. Arvind Sharma is an ex-President of the Advertising Agencies Association of India, ex-Chairman of Advertising Standards Council of India, ex-Chairman of Media Research Users’ Council of India and founding Director of the Broadcast Audience Research Council of India. Arvind was the founding Chairman of Goafest. He is a member of the Board of Governors of Education Support Organization- an NGO focused on innovation in education at the primary & secondary school levels in India. Arvind is also an Independent Director on the Board of listed public companies. Arvind has been a guest faculty member at the Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad since 2002 and IIT Bombay since 2016. Arvind has also has been teaching from time to time at Mica, IMT, ISB, NMIS and Symbiosis. He has been invited to speak at Harvard Business School, Wharton and Columbia.