Rohit Gupta Elected As Chairman Of ASCI

Rohit Gupta, president, Sony Pictures Networks has been unanimously elected as the chairman of the board of The Advertising Standards Council of India (ASCI), the industry watchdog said in a statement on Thursday.

Gupta, who was serving ASCI as vice-chairman, takes the top role from D. Shivakumar, group executive president, corporate strategy, at the Aditya Birla group.

Recalling his a year at ASCI, the outgoing chairman D Shivakumar, said “When I set out last year as the chairman I had three objectives laid out. The first was to increase our membership base, the second to go digital and third to create awareness among consumers. Now thanks to the ministry of information and broadcasting (MIB) directive our awareness has increased immensely, our WhatsApp number has seen a 3X increase in daily messages. We have increased our member base by 10%, our new members representing e-commerce, food & beverage, automotive sectors joining ASCI. ASCI’s digital marketing campaigns would further boost awareness as well as compliance. I wish Rohit and the board the best for the year ahead.”

Subhash Kamath, managing partner, BBH Communications India Pvt Ltd was elected the vice-chairman and Shashi Sinha, chief executive, Media Brands Pvt Ltd, was re-appointed the honorary treasurer. Media Brands is a media network owned by Interpublic Group (IPG).

With over 30 years in holding key leadership positions across consumer, media and entertainment industries, Gupta has been a strong proponent of digital and maintaing fairness in advertising industry.

On his new role, Gupta, said, “I am honoured to accept this role and look forward to the year ahead. With the inclusion of the internet into our everyday life and the constant evolution in the digital space, I feel that synchronizing ASCI’s efforts in the Digital space will be our key focus for the year. The Council has covered a lot of ground in addressing the need for self-regulation in the digital medium and work is progressing rapidly to address that need. Additionally, we will continue our efforts to strengthen relationships with stakeholders in the year ahead.”

Gupta has been with the Sony Pictures Network (SPN) for the last 15 years and is a core member of the management team at SPN.

Currently, responsible for the organization’s revenue streams, he has been actively contributing towards expanding the revenues on new media initiatives which includes digital, mobile and syndication businesses. He has also helped in building group’s rising brands such as SAB, PIX, MIX and AXN. He joined SPN in 2002.

An industry veteran, he previously had a decade-long stint with Xerox, holding key leadership positions on the senior management team. His last assignment with them was as executive director, sales and marketing.

Equipped with a deep understanding of the media and entertainment space, Gupta is also a director at several industry bodies in India including the Indian Broadcasting Foundation (IFB), Broadcast Audience Research Council (BARC) and Media Research Users Council (MRUC).―Livemint