Srinivasan K Swamy appointed as vice-chairman of Asian Federation of Advertising Associations

Advertising Council of India's representative Ramesh Narayan has been elected as chief strategy officer

The Asian Federation of Advertising Associations (AFAA), currently based in Taipei, has elected Advertising Council of India (ACI) and R K Swamy BBDO's chairman Srinivasan K Swamy as the new vice-chairman of the Association. Along with this, Raymond So, who represents the Taipei Association of Advertising Agencies (TAAA) has been elected as the chairman of the Association's executive committee for a period of four years. Ramesh Narayan also representing the ACI, was elected as the chief strategy officer.

Commenting on his new appointment, Srinivasan K Swamy says, "It is an honour to be elected the vice-chairman of AFAA. Our goal will be to take the excellent work done by AFAA members to new heights across Asia. I look forward to greater cooperation and participation from all member countries."

Swamy spoke about AFAA'S involvement in the IAA Olive Crown Awards in India and said this was an example of how industry associations could jointly work on issues of common interest. He also praised the role played by the ACI in actively supporting AFAA's FastTrack programme that helps young professionals in the industry.

The new four-person executive committee along with Narayan consists of chief revenue officer Lee Soon Dong of the Korea Federation of Advertising Associations, chief knowledge officer Bharat Avalani of Malaysian Advertisers Association, and chief marketing officer Harris Thajeb representing Komisi Periklanan Indonesia.

AFAA is mainly known in Asia for the biennial AFAA AdAsia Congress organised by the members. The next edition of the event, AdAsia 2017, will be held in the month of November the same year, in Bali. AFAA has also helped incubate the DigiAsia (November 14-17, 2016, in Taipei), and the AFAA FastTrack, which will be held early next year in Kuala Lumpur.

Founded in 1978, AFAA has representatives from 14 Asian nations (Japan, Korea, Taipei, Thailand, Vietnam, Malaysia, Philippines, Indonesia, Bangladesh, India, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Pakistan, and the UAE). Its primary objectives are to unify all Asian associations involved in the various aspects of advertising and upgrade the standards, ethics, and practices of advertising and to bring about meaningful contribution from advertising activities to both regional and national socio-economic development. The association organises events such as AdAsia (biennially), DigiAsia (biennially), and the AFAA FASTTRACK, a professional training programme every year.