At the Annual General Body Meeting held today in Mumbai, Prasanth Kumar, CEO of GroupM Media (India), was re-elected as the president of the Advertising Agencies Association of India (AAAI) for the term 2024-25. Meanwhile, Rana Barua, Group CEO of Havas India, Southeast Asia, and North Asia (Japan and South Korea), was unanimously chosen as the vice president of the association.

The newly elected board members include industry leaders like: Sam Balsara (Madison Communications); Tanya Goyal (Everest Brand Solutions); Tapas Gupta (BEI Confluence Communication); Vishandas Hardasani (Matrix Publicities and Media India); Mohit Joshi (Havas Media India); Santosh Kumar (Innocean Worldwide Communications); Kunal Lalani (Crayons Advertising); Rohan Mehta (Kinnect); Chandramouli Muthu (Maitri Advertising Works, Cochin); Vikram Sakhuja (Platinum Advertising); Kalyan Sarkar (Standard Publicity); K Srinivas (Sloka Advertising, Hyderabad).

Additionally, Anupriya Acharya, the immediate past president, will serve as the ex-officio member of the AAAI board.

Upon re-election, Prasanth Kumar expressed his gratitude, saying, “I am deeply honoured by the trust AAAI members have placed in me for another term. Our goal is to champion innovation, uphold high standards of planning and creativity, and support the industry through challenges and opportunities.”

Rana Barua, on his appointment as vice president for the third time, said, “This appointment is a testament to the trust the industry places in me. I look forward to driving innovation and supporting the dynamic growth of our industry.”

Kumar, with over two decades of experience, including roles at Pepsi, The Hindu, The Media Edge, and McCann Erickson, has been with GroupM for over 20 years. Barua, a veteran in the advertising world, is committed to fostering industry excellence.