Yash Khanna, former EVP, corporate communications, Star India, has joined CMCG India as president.
While speaking about his new position, Yash Khanna said, “CMCG is known for quality of work it has delivered to clients across industry segments. Our plan is to extend our thought leadership across industry segments, while offering innovative communication solutions to clients.”
Samir Kale, MD, CMCG India, said, “Yash brings invaluable experience and business understanding to the agency. I am sure that under his guidance, CMCG India will be able to grow into a large communications agency offering a variety of services to clients across geographies in India.”
Khanna who had joined Star in 1992, when it had just established itself in India. One of the first few employees, he joined in the advertising sales function. He, along with Peter Mukerjea, the then head of advertising sales, looked after the sales for India and the West Asian regions.
During his tenure at Star, Khanna has worked in various capacities across verticals such as ad sales, marketing, business development, corporate communications, corporate affairs and client relations.
Khanna has undertaken various projects such as launching the ANZ Grindlays Star TV World Card, where a media brand and a bank came together to launch a credit card and overseeing policy matters with various industry bodies.
He moved into a marketing role in 1998. However, since there were only a few Hindi programmes on the channel, it wasn’t a big function. In two years, he moved to head corporate communications and subsequently, corporate affairs.
Prior to Star, Khanna had a 17 years stint at Ananda Bazaar Patrika in the ad sales function. He also played a key role in the launch of several titles of the group, including Sunday, Businessworld and The Telegraph.