Vikram Sakhuja, group CEO, Madison Media and OOH, will be conferred with the Advertising Agencies Association of India's (AAAI) Lifetime Achievement Award. While the award will be presented to him through an event in early 2025, Sakhuja shared some pointers which contributed to his success, in a conversation with Manifest.

"Firstly, its very gracious of the industry to bestow this award to me. I truly believe that a rolling stone gathers no moss. So, for people who think it's good fun to leave an organisation after a couple of years for that little bit more (money), I suggest it's better to stay in one place, absorb what's happening there and take note of it. Going from one organisation to the other is superficial. I admire those who have had long stints at companies," he said.

After his post-graduation, Sakhuja joined P&G before moving to Coca-Cola. He then had a brief stint with Star T, before joining GroupM. In 2015, he moved to Madison.

He added, "Sticking to one discipline also helps. My suggestion is to build a core competence. I stuck to marketing and built my core competence around it. And while I run a company, I don't have the same competence in other areas like finance or product supply. Piyush (Pandey) and Prasoon (Joshi) are considered to be creative Gods because they are the last word when it comes to understanding people, brands and creating expressions for them. And finally, my advice is to hang around good people because they make you look good."

Read the full chat in the November issue of Manifest. Get your copy here.