“A slight man who performs giant deeds and has decades of achievement behind him”, says The Brand Reporter, (a marketing magazine in India) describing Sam Balsara. The magazine further says, “Unassuming, affable, and a charmer, the soft spoken Balsara hit the headlines in April 08 with a spectacular deal that made the Media world sit up. He acquired a 51% stake in MediaCom in India.”
Sam, is currently the head of the completely Indian owned Madison World, which has 20 units across 10 specialized functions in Advertising, Media, PR, Out-Of- Home, BTL, Rural, Retail, Entertainment, Events and Sports Management. Over the past 22 years, Madison has grown to become a Rs. 25 billion company, employing over 800 communication experts, with offices in India, Sri Lanka and Thailand.
Madison Media, the Group’s largest and highly successful unit, services clients like Coca Cola, Godrej, General Motors, Cadbury’s and Airtel amongst others. The Economic Times, Brand Equity Ad Agency Reckoner 2005 and 2007 ranks Madison Media as the most admired Media agency. The same survey ranked Sam as “India’s Most Influential Media Person” for 4 consecutive years from 2006 till 2009 and also ranked Sam as the “4th Most Influential Person in Advertising” in 2009. Sam is also the recipient of the Advertising Agencies Association of India’s Lifetime Achievement Award and the Ad Club of Calcutta’s Hall of Fame Award.
Sam’s belief of having a few but large clients to ensure each client gets a dedicated team servicing the business seems to have worked well over the years. Madison Media in 2006 became the first media agency from India to win 2 Cannes Media Lions.
Over the past decade, Sam headed almost every major industry committee or association in India. He served on the jury to judge the Media Lions awards at the Advertising Festival in Cannes 3 years ago and the Festival of Media, Valencia last year.
Sam is a regular speaker at various international conventions and awards.
Meet Sam, the man who works hard but parties even harder and lives in an 80-year old ancestral home in a remote suburb with his wife and two daughters.
