GroupM India appoints Karthik Nagarajan as Head of Branded Content

GroupM India has announced that Karthik Nagarajan, Chief Content Officer,  Wavemaker India will take on additional responsibility at GroupM as the Head of Branded Content. In his new role, Nagarajan will report to Prasanth Kumar, CEO of GroupM South Asia.

On Nagarajan’s appointment, Kumar said, “Disruption and evolution go hand in hand and it also brought in opportunities in the content, sports and entertainment space and it is consistently redefining the market place. Over the years, we have been building these spaces by shaping great solutions for our clients. While we will continue to build on advertising technologies that will add speed and scale, we are equally committed to enhance our creative process and enable larger solutions in the content space. I am confident in Karthik’s abilities and together we look forward to creating great solutions and opportunities for our clients as well as our partners.”

Nagarajan spent a significant part of his early career in consulting, as a practice head for Frost & Sullivan in the United States. Before joining GroupM in 2011, Nagarajan set up Nielsen’s online division and was also the India Country Head for NM Incite, the joint venture between Nielsen and McKinsey for social media consulting in India. He set up the social media practice for GroupM India, which also included its foray into advocacy. Nagarajan also evangelised the data agenda for GroupM by building its social analytics practice, products like Radar and the command centre offering. In 2015, Nagarajan conceived and launched Brew, which became the premier content up-front event for not just GroupM but the industry as well.

Nagarajan, Head of Branded Content, GroupM India and Chief Content Officer for Wavemaker India, said, “Content is a cultural intervention for a brand and the need to be authentic has never been more critical. Hence the journey of an idea today is seeped in data-led audience truths as much as it is in creativity. From an era when brands rode the trend waves, we are well and truly in a phase where brands author their sub-cultures. This is what makes it an extraordinary time to be in this industry. I am looking forward to taking on this additional responsibility at GroupM, at a time when the lines between content and commerce are blurring.”