A visionary & a master planner: Pradeep Guha’s stellar work will be hard to match

With the passing away of Pradeep Guha, MD, 9X Media, the curtain comes down on the last of the iconic print media pioneers, who changed the entire dynamics of print media. Guha’s approach and thinking were always innovative and fresh with new ideas. Guha spent over four decades in the M&E industry across print media, TV broadcasting, advertising & marketing, as well as the Bollywood industry. 

He began his career with Bennett Coleman and Company Limited (BCCL), a company where he spent almost 3 decades. The introduction of Mastermind Planner, where advertisers were offered a great choice when it came to using the Times Group publications, was a killer of an idea. While with The Times of India, Guha was always ahead of the curve and brought in the concept of events and experiential marketing, which were new concepts for print media at that time. Taking the magazine Femina to a different level was his idea. He launched the prestigious and elite Femina Miss India and Miss Universe contests, which became a brand property of BCCL and an eagerly awaited regular annual event. At BCCL, Guha worked very closely with Vice-Chairman Samir Jain and created many new business units in the print media space and consolidated the group’s position to become the No. 1 among the dailies. Both Femina and Filmfare Awards were his brainchild. 

The success at BCCL made Guha one of the top-notch media and marketing professionals at that time. By the time he left BCCL, Guha had built a reputation for himself as the leading advertising and marketing professional of that time. 

Guha’s next destination was Zee, which he joined at a time when satellite channels were just growing and there was severe competition in the market. During his active role at Zee, Guha helped them to gain market share and give a very tough fight to the leader – Star plus. Launching DNA amid much fanfare and creating a joint venture between Danik Bhaskar and Zee was his idea. The DNA paper was built with some strong and reputed names like Gautam Adhikari and Ayaz Memon. Being a visionary, he had a strong ambition to help Zee succeed in print media as well. 

Guha’s next major move in the media industry was taking over as the MD of 9X Media, which was founded by former Star India CEO Peter Mukerjea and his (former) wife, Indrani Mukerjea. Guha took over the reins of the three-year-old loss-making company, restructured it and brought it back on its feet through a series of strategic moves, including selling the GEC 9X to ZEEL. After establishing 9X Media, Guha was eagerly looking for buyers, but the deal never happened as the same did not go through with ZEEL and the contract got terminated in 2018. Guha remained at the helm of the affairs at 9X Media as its Managing Director till he breathed his last. His 10-odd years with 9X Media were the second longest innings after he left BCCL. He also had some stake as a co-founder in Fountainhead MKTG, an experiential event marketing company, which was acquired by Dentsu in 2015. 

Guha’s exposure in BCCL and ZEEL helped him know a lot about the film industry. And he always had the liking and passion for films. He also dabbled in the film industry and produced a few films, such as Hrithik Roshan and Karisma Kapoor-starred ‘Fiza’ and another film called ‘Phir Kabhi’, which featured Mithun Chakraborty and Dimple Kapadia, among others. 

Having been associated with the media and marketing industry for a long period, Guha also significantly contributed to several industry bodies. He was President of the Indian Newspaper Society, Chairman of the National Readership Studies Council, President of the Advertising Club Bombay and the first Chairman of the Broadcast Audience Research Council (BARC). Furthermore, he was also associated with the International Advertising Association (IAA) and Asian Federation of Advertising Association (AFAA). 

It wouldn’t be wrong to say that Guha brought Indian advertising to the global stage. He was solely instrumental in bringing India to the Cannes Lions Festival and was the first Country Representative from India for 10 consecutive years. He was also Chairman of the Steering Committee, which organised and executed the World Congress of the International Advertising Association for the first time in India in February 2019. 

The passing away of Pradeep Guha is indeed a huge blow to the Indian Media, Marketing, Advertising and Entertainment industry. His enormous contributions to the industry will always be remembered.

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