Prasanth Kumar takes over as president of AAAI

Rana Barua, group CEO, Havas Group India, has been elected as vice-president. 

Other elected members of the board are Chandramouli Muthu, Maitri Advertising Works; K Srinivas, Sloka Advertising; Kunal Lalani, Crayons Advertising; Rohan Mehta, Kinnect; Shashidhar Sinha, Initiative Media; Sridhar Ramasubramanian, Beehive Communications; Vishandas Hardasani, Matrix Publicities and Media; Vivek Srivastava, and Innocean Worldwide Communications. Anupriya Acharya, immediate past-president, will be the ex-officio member of the AAAI board for 2022-23.

Kumar said, “I’m extremely honoured to be elected president of this prestigious association. Advertising is, in my opinion, a dynamic and idea-driven industry. Collaboration with industry organisations will allow us to shape the industry in a progressive way that benefits everybody. 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.”

In a career spanning 25 years, Kumar has worked with Pepsi, The Hindu, The Media Edge and McCann Erickson.

Acharya said, “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, refreshed the AAAI logo in step with the times. But most importantly, we furthered our agenda on inclusion as we partnered with UN Women backed Unstereotype Alliance and brought more digital agencies into the fold and continued strong partnerships with other industry bodies. I would like to take this opportunity to thank my fellow Board members for giving their energy, expertise, and time when most needed. I would also like to congratulate Prasanth Kumar 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.”

(Courtesy: Campaign India)