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Navin Khemka expressed his delight and gratitude upon receiving the award, calling it a deeply emotional moment for him. He shared that the recognition holds special significance as it reflects years of dedication, teamwork, and passion for the industry. “It’s a very emotional moment for me right now. EssenceMediacom getting agency of the year and we are also getting recognized, second time in three years, which makes us believe that we are doing something right! I want to thank my team, without whom I don't think I would be standing here. They relentlessly work so hard along with me, so thank you so much to all of you there and this entire team. Hopefully, we will be back again next year”.
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The ‘Media Agency Head of The Year’ award is given to a CEO excelling at a spectrum of media services including media buying/planning and contributing to the overall growth of the organization through exceptional delivery, retainers and acquiring new business.
Khemka is a seasoned professional having over 25 years of experience across networks. In his previous roles in GroupM, he was part of a Mindshare team and was also involved in the merger of Maxus & MEC to form Wavemaker. From his early days at Mudra and Mindshare to his transformative leadership at MediaCom and EssenceMediacom, Naveen has played a pivotal role in turning media from a cost center to a strategic engine.
From launching some of India's firsts, like Airtel’s integrated impact media ride and Samsung India’s media strategy engine, to shaping media narratives for brands like Paytm, PepsiCo, Hero MotoCorp, and Tata, Naveen has consistently stayed ahead of the curve.
The winners were selected by a revered jury across three categories – Agencies, Specialist Agencies and People. This year, the 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.