Initiative, the global full service media agency network of IPG Mediabrands has appointed Laya Menon as Executive Vice-President. Menon will be based in Bangalore and report to Vaishali Verma, CEO, Initiative.
Menon joins Initiative from Group M after a long innings of 15 years. Her last assignment at GroupM was with the Mindshare network where she was leading the Bangalore units as Principal Partner-Client Leadership. She also oversaw the south business for Motivator at GroupM.
Her 19 years of experience across Universal McCann, Carat, Maxus, Motivator and Mindshare spreads over several sectors, including FMCG, retail, lifestyle, tech and ecommerce – Dabur, Titan, Google, Myntra, Himalaya, Ola, Aditya Birla group, Ikea, Landmark Group and Diageo being the key ones.
She began her career with McCann and Carat in Delhi before moving on to Maxus Delhi. Menon is a Delhi University and IMT Ghaziabad alumni.
In her new role, Menon will drive Initiative’s business growth and profitability in Bangalore which handles ecommerce major Amazon, MRF, 3M and others.
Vaishali Verma, CEO, Initiative, said, “I welcome Laya to the Initiative family and she comes on board with a rich experience of 19 years. I can’t think of a better person to lead Initiative’s Bangalore office which has some of the biggest clients of IPG Mediabrands in India. Laya’s strengths include business management, strategic thinking and client relationship and I am confident that she will strengthen and grow the agency through Initiative’s Culture Velocity.”
Talking about her new role, Menon said, “Initiative in the south, has an impressive roster of brands and IPG Mediabrands is known for their passion for the craft coupled with sound leadership. I am excited to begin the journey with IPG Mediabrands family, lead the next wave of growth for Initiative and deliver results for our clients.”