Ali Imran chucks advertising, settles with ‘exciting’ media

Ali Imran has moved on from Leo Burnett. He has decided to join V&S Broadcasting, a subsidiary of UTV

Months of speculation regarding the exit of Leo Burnett’s Delhi’s branch head and executive vice-president, Ali Imran, have been put to rest. He has quit the agency to join V&S Broadcasting, a subsidiary of UTV Global Broadcasting, as vice-president, marketing and communications. His role will be to handle the project for UTV’s three upcoming channels in the variety and speciality genre. These channels will form part of the upcoming bouquet of TV channels from the UTV group.

Ali Imran

Says Imran, “This is an opportunity that simply came along. Media and entertainment is an exciting sector to be in. Though there was a great deal of comfort in advertising, I was in search of something more exciting. UTV is already a very powerful media and entertainment brand. The variety and speciality portfolio provides a great opportunity to add new dimensions to the UTV offering.”

Ali will report to Dilshad Master, chief operating officer, V&S Broadcasting. After graduating from FMS in 1991, Imran joined Lintas and spent a decade at the agency. In 2002, he joined Barista for a short stint as associate vice-president, marketing. In February 2003, Leo Burnett came his way.

Adds Shantonu Aditya, chief executive officer, V&S Broadcasting, “We are very pleased to have Ali join our team, as he brings with him valuable experience in brand development, strategy and brand promotion. Having dealt with innumerable brands in his advertising avatar, Ali will be an asset to our business, which is essentially the creation of speciality brands in television.”

Ali has a double MBA – besides FMS, he has done an MBA from INSEAD, France. He’s an avid quizzer and was a finalist on Mastermind in 2000 and the Brand Equity Quiz in 2003.

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