GroupM Media India's Prasanth Kumar re-elected as president of AAAI

GroupM Media India, the Indian arm of the US-based media investment group’s chief executive officer (CEO) – South Asia, Prasanth Kumar, has been re-elected as the president of the Advertising Agencies Association of India (AAAI) for the year 2024-25.

The decision was finalised at AAAI’s annual general body meeting held in Mumbai.

The AAAI is a not-for-profit, industry-led and industry-managed trade association of advertising agencies, formed in 1945.

Prasanth Kumar is a GroupM veteran with over two decades of experience in advertising, having worked in other organisations as well. He has previously worked at Pepsi, The Hindu, The Media Edge, and McCann Erickson before joining GroupM. He also served as vice-president of AAAI during 2020-22.

“Our goal is to provide steadfast support to the entire ecosystem, helping the industry navigate challenges and seize new opportunities. With the exceptional team of AAAI members and the broader ecosystem, I am confident we will continue to shape the future of our industry to greater heights,” Kumar said in a statement.

Rana Barua, Group CEO – Havas India, South East and North Asia (Japan and South Korea), was unanimously elected vice-president of the association. This is his third term as vice-president of the association. The immediate past president, Anupriya Acharya, will be the ex-officio member of the AAAI Board for 2024-25, the association said in a statement.

The association elected several other board members in its annual meeting from the media, communications, and advertising industries. Some experienced individuals will be inducted onto the Board of AAAI, with additional positions to be filled later on to make the board broad-based, the association said in a statement.

The AAAI today represents a large number of small, medium, and large-sized agencies as its members, who together account for almost 80 per cent of the advertising business in the country.