CVL Srinivas conferred with Lifetime Achievement Award at e4m Media Ace Awards 2025

CVL Srinivas expressed delight on receiving the prestigious Lifetime Achievement Award, calling it a humbling recognition of his journey in the media and marketing industry. He credited the success to the collective efforts of his teams and colleagues over the years and emphasized that the honour reflects the growth and transformation of the Indian media landscape.

"Thank you, e4m and the Jury, for bestowing this honour upon me. Words fail me to receive this from Sam Balsara, Sashi Sinha and people who I admire a lot and look up to. In fact, it was Sam who got me out of my comfort zone in the year 1998 by giving me an offer to join Madison, and I somewhere, think my life really changed after that for the better. Thank you, Sam, you’ve always been someone I've really looked up to and admired. So, it's a real special moment for me to be here sharing stage with you, and delighted for all my wonderful colleagues who came up on stage today and picked up trophies. So lovely to see all of you", he said.

"The media agency industry has definitely come a long way from the days I started off in the early 90s. I think it has been a phenomenal journey. So, thanks to all the wonderful people in this room and all the people who work across all the different media agencies, we're really driving growth, we're driving innovation. I'm sure the next decade, Indian media agencies are going to really rule the world and bring about a lot of innovation globally from this market. Thank you", he added.

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CVL Srinivas, fondly called as Srini by folks in the industry, has been with the Advertising & Media industry for over 30 years. He is the Country Manager - WPP India since 2017 and a member of the Global Operating Board. He has held senior management positions, including CEO -South Asia at GroupM, Chairman Starcom MediaVest India, CEO Asia Pacific at Maxus (GroupM) and COO at Madison Media. Srini was part of the start-up team at HTA that launched Fulcrum- India’s first media AOR for HUL in 1995.

Srini has played an active role in various industry bodies during his distinguished career. He has been on the Board of BARC, ABC, MRUC, IAA, Chairman at RSCI, and was a founding member and Co-chairman of MMA India.

Srini has been at the forefront of driving growth and innovation across the industry. His range of achievements include- being part of the founding team at HTA Fulcrum India’s first media AOR for HUL back in 1995, establishing best practices for the media industry, helping Madison expand their footprint with a series of blue chip client wins, launching Maxus for GroupM in India and Asia-Pacific and leading it to become one of the top agencies in a very short span of time. More recently at GroupM, helping drive a transformation agenda to put data and digital at the core of the organisation, to make the organisation future-ready. At WPP, Srini led the transformation of the business in India, leveraging technology, creativity and building a collaborative culture across a large organisation to make India WPP’s driver of growth and innovation, and now among its top 4 markets.

The ninth edition of the Media Ace Awards on November 11 brought together some of the most influential figures from the advertising and marketing fraternity to celebrate excellence and leadership. Srinivas’s recognition stands as a testament to his enduring impact, mentorship, and visionary approach that continues to inspire professionals across the media spectrum.