Mumbai: Publicis Groupe CEO- South Asia Anupriya Acharya has been re-elected as president of the Advertising Agencies Association of India (AAAI) for the year 2021-22 at the AAAI's annual general body meeting held on 30 September.  

Group M Media India CEO Prasanth Kumar was re-elected as vice-president of the association.

Other elected members of the executive committee include Rana Barua (Havas Worldwide India), Mohit Joshi (Havas Media India), Kunal Lalani (Crayons Advertising), Rohan Mehta (Kinnect Media), Vivek Srivastava (Innocean Worldwide Communication).

Immediate past president Ashish Bhasin will be the ex-officio member of the new AAAI executive committee, the association said in a statement.

“It’s a privilege to be re-elected for another term as the president of AAAI and I thank all the AAAI members for placing their trust in me and for their strong support,” Acharya said. “This past one year, given the pandemic backdrop, our key priority has been to assist our members in navigating the challenging times. Our executive committee has been steadfast on this and despite virtual meetings, it made tremendous progress.”

She shared that AAAI has also taken multiple initiatives to pivot to the new normal, make the association future-ready and drive inclusivity.

“In fact, I am delighted to share that beyond creative and media, now digital agencies too are taking keen interest and are becoming full-fledged members of the Association. With the markets opening up, the EC and I look forward to driving these initiatives further,” Acharya further added.

Formed in 1945, the AAAI is a not-for-profit industry-led and industry-managed trade association of advertising agencies. The association's members include a large number of small, medium, and large-sized agencies, who together account for almost 80 per cent of the advertising business placed in the country.