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Tag: Mike Khanna

  • Shashi Sinha to be conferred with AAAI Lifetime Achievement Award 2023

    Shashi Sinha to be conferred with AAAI Lifetime Achievement Award 2023

    Mumbai: The Advertising Agencies Association of India has announced that the AAAI Lifetime Achievement  Award for 2023 will be conferred on advertising veteran Shashi Sinha. This is the highest honour to be  given to an individual in India for his/ her outstanding contribution to the Advertising Industry.

    With nearly four decades in the advertising industry, Sinha is seasoned professional and has  dedicated the majority of his career to a single agency group. In a leadership span of 25 years, he  progressed from being the head of Media at FCB Ulka to the CEO of all media units under IPG Media  Brands in 2013. As CEO, he orchestrated a remarkable turnaround, transforming a little known media  group into the most respectable entity among all IPG business units in India. This success elevated the  global standing of IPG Media Brands. Simultaneously, his enduring stewardship of Amul for over 37  years attests to the high regard in which he is held. Beyond corporate achievements, he played a  pivotal role in the sevenfold growth of Interactive Avenues, a digital agency acquired during his tenure.  His emphasis on human resources ensured the retention of original founders within the leadership  team at MB agencies. Notably, MB agencies, apart from Group M, are the only media agencies to have  received Agency of the Year Awards at prestigious local shows like Emvies and Goafest Abbies.  

    Renowned for his active presence and guidance in various industry bodies, including roles as the  current Chairman of BARC, former President of the Ad Club and former Chairman of ABC and MRUC. His involvement in ASCI, and contributions to IRS editions and AAAI further exemplify his commitment  to influencing the advertising landscape. He has also been Chairman of the Awards Governing Council  at Goafest. Beyond his professional life, he contributes to social causes through advisory roles in  organizations like Akhand Jyoti Charitable Trust and TRRAIN Foundation, focusing on healthcare for  curable blindness and supporting the training and placement of people with disabilities in the retail  sector.

    Making the announcement, AAAI president Prasanth Kumar said, “Shashi Sinha’s journey in advertising is an inspiring narrative of leadership, innovation, and resilience. As the AAAI Lifetime  Achievement Awardee for 2023, he exemplifies decades of transformative impact, steering media  entities to unparalleled success. His tenure as CEO at IPG Media Brands marked a turnaround that  elevated industry standards, making it the most profitable entity under IPG in India. Beyond corporate  milestones, Shashi’s commitment to industry bodies and social causes is laudable. His achievements  reflect not just professional excellence but a deep-seated passion for shaping the advertising landscape  and contributing meaningfully to societal progress. Shashi Sinha is truly deserving of this honour.”

    AAAI Lifetime Achievement Award Selection Committee,  chairperson Anupriya Acharya remarked, “No one deserves this prestigious honor more than Shashi. While his success in advertising  is remarkable, his contributions to the industry at large are nothing short of exemplary. It is no surprise  therefore, that the entire committee unanimously agreed to bestow this award upon Shashi,  recognizing his outstanding achievements and significant impact on the advertising landscape.”

    The AAAI Lifetime Achievement Award is presented annually to an individual who has been a  practitioner of advertising for twenty-five years and had been in the top management position; has  been or continues to be an active participant in industry bodies and or made significant contributions  in shaping the industry priorities which enabled the advertising industry to grow, prosper and become  more professionalized; individual known for his integrity, ethical practice and leadership  qualities; contributed to his Company/Companies growth by innovative thinking and taking them in  newer directions; involved in projects of social consequence which is seen as a role model for the  industry at large and had been an industry veteran.

    Some of the past winners of this award include Subhas Ghosal, Alyque Padamsee, Mike Khanna, R K  Swamy, Piyush Pandey, Sam Balsara, Prem Mehta, Roda Mehta, Ram Sehgal, Madhukar Kamath,  Arvind Sharma, Colvyn Harris and others.  

  • RIP Mike Khanna: Ad man bids adieu forever

    RIP Mike Khanna: Ad man bids adieu forever

    MUMBAI: Indian ad fraternity’s father figure Mahinder K. Khanna familiar as Mike Khanna, who captained the titanic transition of Hindustan Thomson Associates (HTA) into J Walter Thomson (JWT) breathed his last on 7 June, 2015 at the age 76. Khanna had been unwell for some time.

     

    The entire business fraternity will speak highly about the numbers that he managed to secured as a leader of HTA first in Delhi and then in Mumbai but his achievements are way beyond those numbers. 

     

    Defining Khanna’s persona, HTA former national creative director Ivan Arthur writes, “And those who do not know him will have visions of a man like some others with similar achievements, men who draw attention to their success with big flourishes of the corporate wand and the abracadabra of individual style. With Mike there were no flourishes; no conjurer’s patter, no abracadabra showmanship. He almost seemed like a novice with a pack of cards, slowly dealing them out, stopping to spit-wet his fingers when suddenly you would notice: he has dealt you an ace. And then another and another. You looked in awe. And there he was, unimpressed with his own magic, intent on just dealing you those aces.”

     

    Arthur further adds in his blog, “A creative director will tell you how, on the occasion of the global CEO’s visit, her presentation was delayed by an hour, and how Mike went up to her, put his hand on her shoulder and said, Relax. This is not the end of the world. I could have kissed him then, she said. But I went about getting the job done. An office manager narrates how on his wife’s birthday, he had invited Mike home for dinner, at which he demonstrated the five-finger-and-palm bhangra clap.”

     

    In 2005 Khanna decided to hang up his professional boots and was replaced by Colvyn Harris as JWT India’s CEO. In January 2015, following Harris’ appointment as executive director for global growth and client development Tarun Rai was handed over the post of CEO of J. Walter Thompson South Asia.

     

    Under Khanna’s leadership, HTA represented some of India’s biggest brands like Hero, Pepsi, several Unilever brands, and Air India.

     

    “The freedom to try and fail. A strong sense of self-worth, fairness, integrity, leadership, challenge, A sense of fun. Aces that they hold close to their chest. Aces that have led them to where they are today. Many are now happily retired and a good number are CEOs, chairmen of companies and leaders in their fields. They are all of them echoing one line, I am what I am today because of Mike,” concludes Arthur.

     

    We at Indiantelevision.com deeply mourn the passing away of this maverick ad man. RIP Mike Khanna (1939 – 2015).