Gautam Rajagopal joins R K Swamy Media Group as GM and national head, buying

Rajagopal was vice-president, investments (West) at MPG.

Gautam Rajagopal has joined R K Swamy Media Group as general manager and national head, buying. He will manage national level buying for all clients, with a specific focus on television, cinema and radio.

Rajagopal will be based in Mumbai and will be a part of the senior management team at R K Swamy Media Group.

It may be recalled that afaqs! had reported the news of Rajagopal quitting MPG, where he was the vice-president, investments (West). At MPG, he has been responsible for growing businesses in his other assignments at Starcom, Carat, OMS, Madison and Contract.

Confirming the appointment to afaqs!, Sandeep Sharma, president, R K Swamy Media Group, says, "Gautam has more than 17 years of national level buying experience in the broadcast medium. He has a strong sense of market realities and has sound relationships with the media partners. He will help drive better return on investment (ROI) for our clients and contribute to growing the business."

Commenting on his new assignment, Rajagopal says, "My major role will be to consolidate buying across the country and assist in new business development. I expect the support of my colleagues and seniors to succeed in this endeavour."

For the record, Rajagopal has been with MPG India since May 2011, before which he was working with Beehive Communications as vice-president, media services. At Beehive Communications, Rajagopal spent more than four years.

He started his media career in 1995 with Contract Advertising, following which he worked with agencies such as Madison, Mediavision and Carat Media Services.

In 2003, Rajagopal joined Starcom MediaVest Group as group head, broadcast investment. After two years, he moved to Mudra (Optimum Media Solutions), where he worked for the next two years, before joining Beehive Communications.

He has worked across various categories of brands such as HDFC Bank, Asian Paints, Parle, Bisleri, P&G, Heinz, Skoda, Bajaj and Cadbury.