Suresh Balakrishna set to join Kinetic as CEO, SA & ME

Suresh Balakrishna has put in his papers at IPG media brand and is headed to Kinetic, the OOH arm of GroupM.  Balakrishna, currently CEO, BPN, Initiative & RAPO had joined the agency in 2012 for his second stint there. He would be joining Kinetic as CEO South Asia and Middle East.  Balakrishna expresses, “I have had four very exciting and fulfilling years at IPG Mediabrands. Having said that, I am looking forward to my new role. WPP is the world’s largest advertising group and Kinetic is India's largest OOH company. Hence taking an established company to greater heights in the South Asia and Middle East region will be a challenge which I am looking forward to.”

Shashi Sinha, CEO, IPG Mediabrands, who Balakrishna reports to in his current job, wishes him all the best at his destination next. He expresses, "We are very excited about his APAC level role. He has had a successful stint with us and we wish him luck in his new endeavour."

Balakrishna’s earlier seven year stint at the agency (then Lowe Lintas’ Initiative Media) ended in 2003 when he joined The Hindustan Times as VP - Media & Marketing. Other media organisations Balakrishna has worked with include Zee Entertainment Enterprises Ltd, DNA (then a JV between Zee and Bhaskar group) and Mail Today. After quitting Mail Today in 2011, he took a sabbatical and taught media management at the Symbiosis Institute of Mass Communications for a year.

Balakrishna’s holistic experience in the media space both on the media owner and agency side and his experience and expertise in media platforms including print, television and outdoor would come to good use in his future endeavour. With the outdoor media poised for great strides, Balakrishna would be in thick of things from his first day at Kinetic.

Adgully.com wishes him all the success in his new endeavour.