Poran Malani moves on from S4 Capital's Media.Monks

Poran Malani, who played a pivotal role in establishing Media.Monks in India, will be departing from his position as India Director.

Robert Godinho has been elevated from his role heading the Media.Monks India production hub and will now oversee all operations as Managing Director, Content in India

Before joining S4 Capital, Malani served as a digital transformation consultant for BASF, partnered with Mahesh Bhupathi’s celebrity brand company, Swag fashions, and founded Fair Fern consultancy with VL Rajesh.

Malani’s experience spans over 34 years with Ogilvy, McCann, and Coca-Cola.

In the past, Poran spent nine years as president of Ogilvy South India and built the global hub in Bangalore for Lenovo’s worldwide account, as well as IBM and SCJ.

An entrepreneur at heart, Godinho’s creative studio WhiteBalance was merged with Media.Monks in 2020.

Bruno Lambertini, Co-CEO, of the Content practice, said, “As one of the fastest growing markets in APAC, and indeed the world, we view India as an important strategic part of our own growth. The Media.Monks India business is also a hub for creative innovation, so it is well placed to help businesses harness the huge potential of AI, now. The new era for the India business, under the stewardship of Robert Godinho, is rooted in putting these capabilities into the hands of brands, be that hyper-personalisation, workflow automation or virtual production.”

“We are building a Centre of Excellence for brands powered by insights, creativity, AI and innovation in India. This is not only to service our national clients but also international Media.Monks brands as well, through our established creative production and innovation hub. India has the opportunity to be at the epicenter of transforming brands by ensuring they are AI-friendly and AI-proof. We want to drive this by proving that AI is not a buzzword. We will do this by leading with it within our own business and handing on the learnings for clients to reap the benefits,” explained Godinho.

Godinho will report to the recently appointed VP, Head of Content, APAC Matthew Godfrey, who joined Media.Monks in October 2023. The Data and Media divisions of Media.Monks India continue to report to Kenny Griffiths, Managing Director, APAC of DDM at Media.Monks.