New Delhi: Mindshare, the WPP-owned media agency, on Thursday announced two major leadership changes across Asia Pacific (APAC) and Middle East and North Africa (MENA) and Africa markets.
Amrita Randhawa, who was previously the chief executive of Mindshare Greater China, has been promoted as chief executive, Asia Pacific. Based in Shanghai, she will continue to manage Mindshare China as its executive chairperson, in addition to her overall Asia Pacific duties.
Prasanth Kumar, popularly known as PK in the advertising circle, has been promoted to the position of chief executive for MENA and Africa, in addition to his current role as the chief executive for South Asia.
Both of them will continue to work with Ashutosh Srivastava, the executive chairperson and chief executive for growth markets comprising APAC, MENA, Africa and Russia.
“Amrita and PK represent the very best of Mindshare. They have both been transformative in their leadership approach to two of our biggest markets and have made Mindshare the dominant force it is today. These two represent the future of Mindshare for some of our most important markets globally. I look forward to them continuing to transform Mindshare’s vast network of offices in this region to stay relevant and highly valued business partners to their clients,” said Srivastava in a statement.
Randhawa has been with the agency for over 12 years working across Delhi, Mumbai, Beijing, Shanghai and APAC regional office in Singapore.
In her new role, she will focus on the agency’s product, especially delivering the balance of brand and demand services for marketers and ensuring that Mindshare adapts and evolves in line with the clients’ needs first and not agency agendas.
“Asia is the star of our network and I take this responsibility with an incredible sense of humility. Sitting at the crossroads of data, content, technology and analytics, this is the time for the media agency. Working with the incredible leadership team we have in each of the APAC clusters, our focus will be to ensure that Mindshare is ahead of the pack and charts the path for what is possible for media agencies today and tomorrow. The media landscape is changing in every corner of Asia at an incredible speed and working with the amazing breadth of talent we have in this region to create our future is a phenomenal opportunity,” said Randhawa on her new role.
Kumar, who has been heading Mindshare in South Asia, has been responsible for building Mindshare’s presence in the India market as well. As the Mindshare India CEO, a statement from the agency stated, he developed a record for not just the most number of new business wins by a single market, but also won accolades including a Glass Lion at Cannes International Festival of Creativity.
“Marketing is morphing and so are we in terms of how we think, act and behave for our clients and their business outcomes. This expanded role gives me the opportunity to widen my perspectives and cross-pollinate our learning and initiatives for smarter, faster, better practices for our clients and our purple talent. I am thrilled and excited to be working with the new markets, Middle East and Africa, as these markets along with India and South Asia are probably the fastest growing economies on the planet. I am very proud and confident of my team. Together we will make the purple fly high,” said Kumar on his new role.
A part of GroupM, Mindshare is a global media agency network which consists of more than 7,000 employees, in 116 offices across 86 countries spread throughout North America, Latin America, Europe, Middle East, Africa and Asia. In India, it handles clients such as ICICI Bank , breakfast cereal brand Kellogg’s India, fast moving consumer goods company PepsiCo, handset maker Motorola, Lifestyle Group, auto firm Ford India, sports brand Nike, Lufthansa Airlines and The Muthoot Group, among others.