Niti Kumar takes the reins at Spark Foundry India

GURUGRAM: Niti Kumar has been named chief executive officer of Spark Foundry India, marking a significant coup for Publicis Groupe as it seeks to sharpen its edge in one of the world’s fastest-growing advertising markets.

Kumar joins from Starcom, where she spent four and a half years as chief operations officer, building integrated teams and steering business development. Her appointment comes as media agencies battle for supremacy in India, where digital advertising spending is surging and brands are demanding increasingly sophisticated strategies.

A self-described “born and brought up media planner,” Kumar brings more than two decades of experience spanning traditional and digital marketing, corporate communications, and social media. She has worked with heavyweight clients including Mars, Subway, Shell, Dabur, Reckitt and Amway, crafting media strategies that blend data with creative storytelling.

Her career trajectory reads like a tour of India’s media landscape. Before Starcom, she spent two years as senior vice president of marketing, digital and communications at Penguin Random House India. She also logged nearly six years at MediaCom, rising to managing partner before her departure in 2018, and spent nearly eight years at Mudra Communications, where she headed the Delhi and Kolkata offices as associate vice president.

Kumar is also a TEDx speaker and has positioned herself as a mentor for young women building careers in advertising—a sector still grappling with gender imbalance at senior levels.

Spark Foundry, part of Publicis Groupe’s Publicis Media division, competes with the likes of GroupM’s Mindshare and Wavemaker, Omnicom’s PHD and OMD, and IPG’s UM. Kumar’s appointment suggests Publicis is betting on experienced hands to navigate an increasingly fragmented media ecosystem.

When she’s not plotting media buys, Kumar can be found under a blanket with coffee and the latest fiction read. But with India’s advertising market heating up, those quiet moments may be in short supply.