This year has rather been a good year for ad veteran Ramesh Narayan. He has been making his mark not just in ad fraternity but through his contribution to the society. The latest accolades for Narayan comes from India Chapter of the International Advertising Association (IAA) where he has been unanimously elected as president.
Founder of Canco Advertising, Narayan said, “It is an honour to lead the IAA in India. I will build on the strong foundations left by successive Presidents and members. It will be our effort to keep the IAA as a vibrant voice of the communications industry all over India. And of course use communication as a force for good.” At present, he is VP, IAA Global (Internal Communications); member of the Executive Committee of the Asian Federation of Advertising Associations (AFAA) and president at the Rotary Club of Bombay.
He was also inducted into the IAA Hall of Fame in 2014 and was also conferred the Lifetime Achievement Award by the Advertising Agencies Association of India (AAAI) in 2014. In 2015 he was named Global Champion by the IAA at the inaugural Inspire Awards in London. His past achievements include being the president of The Advertising Club, the Advertising Agencies Association of India; Director of the Audit Bureau of Circulation. He was chairman of the Awards Governing Council of the Abby Awards at Goafest for the last two years.
The decision of his appointment as president was made at IAA’s AGM held on September 28, 2017 in Mumbai. The office bearers are Megha Tata (COO of BTVi) vice president; Pradeep Dwivedi (CEO of Sakal Media Group) secretary; Jaideep Gandhi (founder of Another Idea) treasurer and Neeraj Roy (founder and CEO, Hungama Digital Media Entertainment) Immediate Past President.
The members of the managing committee include Tarun Rai (CEO, JWT); CVL Srinivas (CEO-South Asia, GroupM); Ashish Bhasin (chairman and CEO, Dentsu Aegis Network); Srinivasan Swamy (chairman, RK Swamy BBDO); M K Anand (CEO, Times Now Network); Pradeep Guha (CEO, 9XMedia); Kaushik Roy (president-brand marketing, Reliance Industries Ltd.); Sam Balsara (chairman and MD, Madison Communications); Anupriya Acharya (CEO, Publicis Media-India); M V Shreyams Kumar (MD, Mathrubhumi Group); Anant Goenka (director, Indian Express); Abhishek Karnani (Director, Free Press Journal); Girish Agarwal (director, Dainik Bhaskar Group); Janak Sarda (joint managing director, Deshdhoot); Salil Kapoor (MD, HOOQ Digital India Pvt. Ltd.); Atit Mehta (VP and head media, Sequoia Capital India Advisors); Anand Sankeshwar (MD, VRL Media Ltd.); Bhaskar Das (Zee Media); I Venkat (director, EENADU); Ashok Venkatramani; Umang Bedi (MD, Facebook India); Sunita Bangard (president -marketing, Idea Cellular); Rajiv Kental (president marketing, Amar Ujala publications), Tarun Katial (CEO, RBNL) and Sunil Kataria (Godrej).
Congratulating Narayan, Srinivasan Swamy, SVP, IAA Global and Chairman, RK Swamy BBDO said, “I am delighted that Ramesh has taken on the mantle to take IAA India to the next level. You will see many new initiatives under his leadership which will make all of us proud in the world of IAA. I wish him the very best when he supports India to host the 44th. IAA World Congress in November 2018.” Adding to it, past president of the IAA, Pradeep Guha said, “I am happy that Ramesh has finally agreed to don the mantle of President of the India Chapter of the IAA. For me personally, this is no ordinary appointment.”