40 Under 40 2022: Megha Nair, Carat

Megha Nair

Vice president, planning and buying
Carat 
India

A true Indian at heart, Megha Nair is the first and often the last to leave the dance floor. A similar, high-energy, unfettered approach is applied to work—she rockets her way through campaigns and aims to provide best-in-class solutions and implementation to clients.

A digital advertising maven with over 16 years of experience across agencies in India including roles with Carat, PHD, Tribal DDB, and Ogilvy and Mather, Nair’s current portfolio is peppered with prominent clients such as TimesPro, Tata Sons, Croma, Tata Neu. Handling over 100 crores (US$12.1 million) in business, her overflowing digital mandate is testament to her solid performance in planning and buying within the company. Even in peak Covid, when economic carnage was rife, Nair’s efforts led to Carat West and South’s billings spike by 54% and revenue by 27%.

Her recent accomplishments are no less impressive. New business wins, account retention, and a special mention of her work with Intel on the multi-award-winning project PC Paathshala—a user-friendly, industry-wide initiative aimed at making e-learning accessible in India—elevated talent retention risk scores from 4.5 to 8/10. 

Whether seeking innovative solutions with specialist product development to help clients in their online business growth or unlocking the value of gaming and metaverse for an immersive digital experience, Nair leads with bespoke approaches that translate to 60% of the firm’s revenues directly associated with new age media.

Regarded as a great collaborator, Nair counts four prestigious media awards in the last two years, including a handful for Intel’s PC Paathshala campaign for which she collaborated with 30 industry partners and stakeholders.

A hungry learner, she is a regular speaker at industry events and panel discussions, and is generous about sharing her meticulously acquired expertise of the last 16 years. The mentor-mentee programme that she spearheads is a unique opportunity for reverse learning, driving discussions on Gen Z mindset and values, current trends, as well as to improve digital innovation skills.