Ajit Gurnani appointed as chief business development officer, Publicis Groupe, South Asia

Publicis Groupe on Monday announced that it has appointed Ajit Gurnani as chief business development officer for South Asia. In his new role, the agency said that he will be responsible for enhancing new business offerings, strengthen client relationships, and accelerating growth for the Groupe and its clients.

He will work closely with Anupriya Acharya, CEO Publicis Groupe South Asia in this mandate. Gurnani takes on this role in addition to his current role as chief growth officer, Publicis Media Services, India wherein he works closely with Tanmay Mohanty, CEO, of Publicis Media Services India. In this role, he has helmed critical global and local pitches, and been instrumental in enabling some of the key media wins of 2022 including PepsiCo, LG Digital, and Eureka Forbes among others.

Gurnani has been with Groupe for nearly 8 years now across various roles in Zenith and Publicis Media. Apart from the agency and media experience he gained through leadership roles in leading media networks, he also brings a wide spectrum of client-side experience from his stint at Marico and others.

On the appointment, Anupriya Acharya says “Ajit is a seasoned leader that brings remarkable perspective, depth, and dimension to every brand conversation and from across various vantage points. His vast experience across categories, businesses and working with multi-disciplinary teams is an added asset.”

Talking about the new role, Gurnani notes that he is looking forward to do his part in elevating Groupe’s position further, and bringing in new partnerships, connections, and surefire growth.

In India, Publicis Groupe’s client base includes GlaxoSmithKline, Nestle, PepsiCo, Procter & Gamble, Hero MotoCorp, Renault, Citigroup, HDFC Bank, Bharti Airtel, Meta, HP, Loreal, Abbot, Stellantis, Renault, Axis Bank, Zee Entertainment, Dabur India, Visa, Beiersdorf, Parle Products, Spotify, and Bajaj Group among others.