Ajay Mehta has stepped down from WPP Media after more than eleven years, closing a significant chapter in which he emerged as one of the key architects behind the network’s content and creative services approach.

Mehta most recently served as Head — Content & Creative Services at WPP Media and was formerly the Chief Content Officer at Mindshare India, playing a pivotal role in strengthening the organisation’s branded-content footprint.

According to the Storyboard18 report, Mehta’s contributions to the industry and his leadership during a period of transformation in media and marketing communications. The report highlights how Mehta’s work at Mindshare and GroupM, now WPP Media, helped shape branded content into a strategic advantage for the network.

Mehta is widely recognised for building and expanding the branded-content vertical at Mindshare and within the GroupM ecosystem. His leadership saw content partnerships evolve into a robust, integrated model connecting brands with publishers, creators, digital platforms and entertainment ecosystems. This approach helped unlock both cultural relevance and measurable business impact for clients across categories.

With close to two decades of experience in marketing communication and strategy, Mehta has worked with top agencies including Mindshare, Ogilvy and Publicis India, driving large-scale content and partnership programmes for clients in FMCG, telecom, retail, finance, automotive and technology. During his nearly nine-year stint at Mindshare, he rose from Vice-President to Senior Vice-President, leading content strategy for key clients such as Hindustan Unilever.

At GroupM/WPP Media, Mehta’s tenure was marked by notable industry recognition, including a Cannes Glass Lions Grand Prix win—an achievement that spotlighted India’s growing strength in media-led creative storytelling on a global stage.

His exit comes at a time when the media industry is recalibrating its priorities, with agencies increasingly assessed on their content capabilities, platform agility and executional excellence rather than traditional media-buying scale alone. As WPP Media reassesses its leadership structure for the next phase, Mehta leaves behind a legacy of establishing content as a central strategic pillar within the organisation.