e4m Media Ace Awards 2025: WPP Media, YAAP, EssenceMediacom among top winners

The exchange4media Group hosted the ninth edition of e4m Media Ace Awards at a star-studded ceremony in Mumbai today, November 11. The prestigious awards recognised and celebrated the Indian media agencies and their professionals for their outstanding work, creativity, and invaluable contributions to the advertising and media industry. At the spectacular awards night, CVL Srinivas, Country Manager, WPP India, was conferred the ‘Lifetime Achievement Award’ while WPP Media walked away with the ‘Network of the Year’ honour.

Among other key winners of the night were Prasanth Kumar, CEO, South Asia, WPP Media, who was honoured with the ‘Network Head of The Year’ award; Navin Khemka, President – Client Solutions, WPP Media South Asia, was awarded the ‘Agency- Head Of The Year (Network) title for his outstanding work, dedication and innovation while Rathi Gangappa, Chief Executive Officer, Starcom India and Monaz Todywalla, Chief Executive Officer, PHD India, were the runners up in this category.

Shantanu Sirohi, Co-Founder and CEO - Interactive Avenues, was bestowed upon the ‘Network Digital Head of The Year’ award, while Vinod Thadani, Chief Growth Officer - Dentsu Media & CEO, iProspect and Rohan Mehta, Chief Executive Officer, FCB Kinnect were the runners up in this category.

At the dazzling night, the ‘Full-Service Media Agency of The Year’ award was bagged by EssenceMediacom, while Wavemaker India and Starcom India were the runners-up in this category. YAAP was honoured with the ‘Digital Marketing Agency of the Year- Non-Network’ award, while Schbang and Social Beat were the runners-up. AER Media won the ‘Influencer Marketing Agency of the Year’ award with White Rivers Media and Influencer.in being the runners up, and ESP:WPP Media was given the ‘Sports Marketing Agency of the Year’ award.

On the other hand, Naresh Khetarpal, Founder and CEO, Span Communications, was named the ‘Independent Agency Head of the Year’ while Vedang Jain, Director, Prachar Communications Pvt. Ltd. and James Valappila, Managing Director, Valappila Communications, were the runners up.

Atul Hegde, Founder of YAAP, was honoured with the ‘Digital Agency Head of the Year’ at the e4m Media Ace Awards 2025. Meanwhile, Suneil Chawla, Co-Founder, Social Beat and Harshil Karia, Founder & CEO, Schbang, were the runners-up in this category. 

This year, the e4m Media Ace 2025 Jury was chaired by Santosh Iyer, MD & CEO at Mercedes-Benz India, while the Co-Jury Chair was Dr. Annurag Batra, Chairman and Editor-in-Chief of BW Businessworld and exchange4media. The other jury members included some of the renowned personalities, industry leaders and experts from the media world.

The e4m Media Ace Awards 2025 was powered by Sakal Media Group, while COMvergence was the Knowledge Partner.

Here’s the complete list of winners: