Planning Associate Director

Mindshare ends Wavemaker's three-year EMVIES streak, wins Media Agency of the Year. Hindustan Unilever Limited was named Best Media Client of the Year, while WPP Media won Best Media Agency Network of the Year. 24 Oct 2026 10:15 IST Mindshare was named Best Media Agency of the Year at the EMVIES Awards 2026, ending Wavemaker's three-year winning streak. Hindustan Unilever Limited (HUL) won Best Media Client of the Year, ending Mondelez's three-year winning streak in the category, while WPP Media was named Best Media Agency Network of the Year. The Advertising Club announced the winners at a ceremony held on October 23 at the Jio World Convention Centre in Mumbai. The awards recognised work across media strategy, planning, research, innovation and effectiveness. This year, the ceremony saw one Grand EMVIE, 57 Gold, 74 Silver and 91 Bronze trophies awarded. Wavemaker India and Colgate (Palmolive) Pvt. Ltd. won the Grand EMVIE for the Colgate Oral Health Movement, in the Best Digital Strategy category. The Young EMVIE of the Year awards went to Chitwan Sharma of Zenith and Aditi Salian of EssenceMediacom. Dheeraj Sinha, president of The Advertising Club, said the winning work reflected the ambition and strategic thinking shaping the media industry. "The winners this year reflect the ambition, strategic rigour and creativity of our industry, setting new benchmarks for what media can achieve," he said. Punitha Arumugam, chairperson of the EMVIES Committee, said the work recognised this year demonstrated how insight, strategy, data and technology are being used to deliver outcomes for brands. The EMVIES Awards are presented by The Advertising Club and recognise work across media planning, strategy, research, innovation and execution. The 2026 edition was supported by Tata Communications and UltraTech Cement.

Prachi Narayan joins WPP Media as head of partnerships, Media Futures Group. The former Havas Play managing partner will work on Media Futures Group, WPP Media's dedicated global media and advertising agency solution created exclusively for Google October 23, 2026 MUMBAI: From the newsroom to Google's media machine. Prachi Narayan, who began as an anchor and journalist at NDTV, has joined WPP Media as head of partnerships at Media Futures Group, a dedicated, bespoke global media and advertising agency solution created exclusively for Google. Narayan comes with more than 20 years across newsrooms, broadcast, branded content and entertainment. She arrives from Havas Media Network India, where she was most recently managing partner at Havas Play India, owning the profit and loss (P&L) for the full content, entertainment and sports mandate. According to her profile, the portfolio spanned Hyundai, Tata Motors, Shell, Swiggy, Voltas and Bumble. Her four years and five months at Havas, from April 2022 to August 2026, brought three promotions. She joined as vice president, content lead, at Havas Media, and became senior vice president and head of content at Havas Play in April 2023. She was managing partner and head of content from April 2025, and managing partner, Havas Play, from July 2025. She says she built the content vertical from a nascent stage into a full-service practice, recognised with Campaign Asia Gold for Content Marketing Agency of the Year. Her list of proudest work is a long one. It includes Samarth by Hyundai, which she describes as the brand's largest social impact platform in India, and Voltas' first brand ambassador association. It also includes India's first women's sports report, with KPMG, a first-of-its-kind AI-produced film with Ajay Devgn's Lens Vault Studios, and original IP staged at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, the world's largest performing arts festival. On her new job, Narayan said the pull is scale. "Few businesses touch as many lives every single day as Google does," she said. "With Search, Gemini and AI changing how people discover stories, sport and entertainment, there's a whole new way for brands to show up." Some of it, she added, is still being written, and she wants to be in the room while it is. After 20-plus years in the business, she said, there is so much to build, and she is ready to get her hands dirty. She thanked Ashwin Padmanabhan, Navin Khemka, Vinit Karnik and Dan Collier-Hill for their faith and support, and Makarand N for the serendipitous phone call that made it all happen. She also thanked the WPP Media ecosystem for making it feel like home so quickly. Her route to the job was a winding one. She was associate producer and anchor at NDTV in Delhi from July 2006 to June 2012, and producer of Tech Toyz at CNBC-TV18 from July 2012 to August 2013. She was executive producer, IPs and events, at Ferriswheel Entertainment from August 2013 to December 2015, and festival manager at the Mumbai Academy of Moving Image (MAMI) from January to March 2016, while also working on Film Companion. She was senior producer, special programming, at TV Today from April 2016 to February 2019, and deputy executive producer and team lead at Republic Media Network from March 2019 to August 2020, where she headed branded content. At Prime Focus Technologies, from August 2020 to March 2022, she was associate vice president, creative services, and headed the biggest on-air programme for Disney Southeast Asia, leading a 120-strong team. Her recognition includes Cannes Lions Jury 2026, as one of twelve jurors from India, Spikes Asia Jury 2026, Goafest ABBY Awards Jury in 2023 and 2026, and e4m Content 40 Under 40 in 2024. She says she is also passionate about the relationship between brands, creators, entertainment, sport and fandom, and about creating pathways for more women to lead. Three things stand out. First, the fit with the client. Google is changing how people find stories, sport and entertainment, and Narayan has spent her career on the content side of that equation, from the newsroom to branded content and sport. A partnerships brief at a Google-only agency needs someone who understands what publishers, creators and brands each want from search and AI. Second, the mix of skills. Her profile shows editorial instincts from NDTV and TV Today, deal and IP experience from Ferriswheel and Republic, and agency P&L leadership at Havas Play, where she handled big brand names. That combination suits a role that connects a technology giant, media owners and advertisers. Third, the signal from the industry. Narayan says she was one of twelve jurors from India at Cannes Lions in 2026, and sat on the juries of Spikes Asia and the Goafest ABBY Awards. Recognition like this, together with her award-winning content practice at Havas Play, helps explain why WPP Media wanted her for a bespoke global team.