NDTV Media CEO, Raj Nayak, has been elected as the new President of the India Chapter of the International Advertising Association (IAA) for 2008-2009 at its Annual General Meeting held in Mumbai on Wednesday,
September 24, 2008. Nayak, who has served as Vice-President of IAA, takes over from Pradeep Guha.
The new managing committee includes: Kaushik Roy as Vice-President; Lynn de Souza as Honorary Secretary; Jaydeep Gandhi as Honorary Treasurer; M. G. Parmeshwaran (Member); Mahesh Chauhan (Member); Sam Balsara (Member); Ramesh Narayan (Co-opted Member); Pheroza Bilimoria (Special Invitee); Goutam Rakshit (Special Invitee); and Pradeep Guha (ex-officio, Past President).
Spread over 93 countries and with over 6,000 members worldwide, IAA champions advertising as a force for growth in all free market societies. It believes that advertising revenues ensure an independent, pluralistic, affordable media with competing channels of information for consumers, which are the foundation of democracy itself.
The India Chapter was initiated over 20 years ago to foster a healthy environment for the growth of globalisation in the communications industry. It has a membership of around 140 top professionals representing marketing, advertising and the media. Membership to IAA is by invitation only.
Said Nayak, “My top priority is to rope in the bright youngsters we have in our industry across creative, media agencies and amongst advertisers. To this end I propose to soon launch an India Chapter of Young Professionals of IAA. Unlike the parent body where membership is by invitation only, the membership to the Young Professional IAA Club would be open to relevant aspirants, students, young professionals below the age of 35. Of course, the managing committee of the parent body will screen the applications to this new wing. We will announce this after our Managing Committee meeting scheduled in October.”
Nayak further added, “I also plan to work closely with other industry bodies like the AAAI, the Advertising Club of Mumbai, ASCI, ISA, INS, IBF and other industry bodies to identify the unique and distinct role that it can play in the advertising and marketing fraternity. Most of it will be in the area of global practices, exploiting its global reach across 93 countries, and access to 6,000 key decision makers.”
Nayak said IAA proposes to build upon the ‘Light A Billion Lives’ campaign, a joint initiative by IAA and TERI, in order to create an annual Green Award. “The response to this initiative this year has been phenomenal and we hope to look at more such socially relevant issues where adverting can play a big role,” he said.