The Advertising Agencies Association of India (AAAI) has honored Madhukar Kamath with this year’s AAAI Lifetime Achievement Award in the presence of the who’s who of the advertising industry. This is the highest honour to be given to individuals in India for their outstanding contribution to the Advertising Industry.
Madhukar Kamath's pioneering contribution
The award recognized Madhukar’s pioneering and outstanding contribution to the growth and development of the advertising industry in India. He played a vital role in transforming a traditional advertising agency into one of India’s most successful and diversified communication companies. Madhukar also played a key role in the Omnicom acquisition of the Mudra Group and the integration with the Global DDB Network. Subsequently, he facilitated the entry of Interbrand, the leading Global Brand Consultancy, into India, and functioned as its Chairman.
For his commitment to the cause of education and building talent for the marketing communications and services industry in India, Madhukar took forward the legacy of A G Krishnamurthy in building MICA and establishing it as India’s leading business School for Strategic Marketing and Communication Management. He was the Chairman of Mudra Foundation from 2003 to 2017.
Speaking about his long journey in advertising, Kamath said, “To join the ranks of the legends that I’ve always admired is truly humbling. AG Krishnamurthy, was the wind beneath my wings for well over a decade. I grew both personally and professionally in Mudra. From the legendary Keith Reinhard, the Chairman Emeritus of DDB Worldwide, I learnt that building on a legacy is as important as looking to create one.
"Over my career of four decades, as the Industry changed, as market forces changed, the very construct of operations changed, the remuneration structures changed and so on, I learnt the importance of constantly reinventing and staying relevant. I treated it like a long distance run where it was necessary to stay the course and not look at it as a sprint. Perhaps, I am blessed. Or just lucky? To have had some truly life changing opportunities come my way.”
President of AAAI Ashish Bhasin said, “Heartiest Congratulations to Madhukar Kamath on being conferred AAAI’s Lifetime Achievement Award for his vision and passion in transforming a traditional advertising agency into one of India’s most successful and diversified communication companies, and his commitment to the cause of education and building talent for the marketing communications and services industry in India.
"He also played a vital role in bringing together the various constituents of the advertising industry to work with unity,” Bhasin said.
The AAAI Lifetime Achievement Award is a prestigious award presented to chosen veterans from the industry who have over twenty five years as practitioners of advertising, who must have or are in top management positions, have been or continue to be active participants in industry bodies and/or made significant contributions in shaping the industry priorities which enabled the industry to grow, prosper and become more professionalized. These individuals are also known for their integrity, ethical practice, leadership qualities, have contributed to their company/companies’ growth by innovative thinking and taking them in newer directions. They have been involved in projects of social consequences which would be seen as role models for the industry at large.
This award was instituted in 1988 by AAAI and some of the past winners include Subhas Ghosal, Alyque Padamsee, Mike Khanna, Piyush Pandey, Sam Balsara, Prem Mehta and Ram Sehgal, among others.
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