Mumbai: GroupM Media India's South Asia CEO Prasanth Kumar has been elected as the president of the Advertising Agencies Association of India (AAAI) for the year 2022-23 at its annual general body meeting, which was held on 28 November.
Havas Group India CEO Rana Barua has been unanimously elected vice president of the association.
Anupriya Acharya, the AAAI's immediate past president, will serve as an ex-officio member of the AAAI Board in 2022-2023.
On this occasion, AAAI president Prasanth Kumar (fondly known as PK) said, "I’m extremely honoured to be elected president of this prestigious association. In my opinion, advertising is a dynamic and idea-driven industry. Collaboration with industry organisations will allow us to shape the industry in a progressive way that benefits everyone. I look forward to building synergies with like-minded people and organisations, and I believe that we will be able to achieve our goals if we work together. As always, I expect lots of support from my peers and colleagues within AAAI as well as from the broader ecosystem as well."
PK is a GroupM veteran with over 25 years of experience working across the industry. He has worked at Pepsi, The Hindu, The Media Edge, & McCann Erickson before joining GroupM. He was also vice president of AAAI from 2020 to 2022.
Outgoing president, Acharya stated, "It has been a privilege to hold the office of President and take on the responsibilities that come with it for the last two years. We transitioned AAAI from a society to a Section 8 company, returned with our key events as the nation moved out of covid restrictions, relaunched the iconic Goafest and Abbys in partnership with The One Show, and refreshed the AAAI logo in step with the times. But most importantly, we furthered our agenda on inclusion as we partnered with the UN Women-backed Unstereotype Alliance, brought more digital agencies into the fold, and continued strong partnerships with other industry bodies."
She added, "I would like to take this opportunity to thank my fellow board members for giving their energy, expertise, and time when it was most needed. I would also like to congratulate PK on his election as president. He has been a key member of the Indian media and advertising industry for a long time. I’m sure he will take the association from strength to strength."
The other elected members of the board include Matrix Publicities and Media India director Vishandas Hardasani, Crayons Advertising founder Kunal Lalani, Kinnect CEO Rohan Mehta, Maitri Advertising Works Cochin executive director Chandramouli Muthu, Beehive Communications' Sridhar Ramasubramanian, Initiative Media India principal CEO Shashidhar Sinha, Sloka Advertising Hyderabad director K Srinivas, and Innocean Worldwide Communications managing director Vivek Srivastav.
