Industry mourns the loss of Hemant Mehta
Associated with Kantar for over three decades, Mehta lent his leadership to many other industry bodies
Market research and consumer insights veteran Hemant Mehta’s death has come as a shock to the advertising and marketing industry. While he had a long association with Kantar, his expertise in the domain earned him the distinction of leading several industry bodies like the TAM Media Research.
Industry heads and experts expressed shock at the loss and shared their tributes.
Anupriya Acharya, CEO of Publicis Groupe-South Asia
Indeed, very sad. I have interacted with him quite a few times over the last 20 years and always found him to be an ace professional with a smiling face and pleasant demeanour. A great human being. This news has been a shock.
Kartik Sharma, Group CEO, Omnicom Media Group
I have known Hemant for over 25 years. He was one of the finest research minds of our country and I was fortunate to work with him both at the industry level during the NRS days and even as a user of several research products which he was overseeing. Post his retirement too we used to meet regularly and exchange notes. I have learnt so many things from him and I deeply sad and shocked by his sudden demise. His vacuum will be deeply felt. I pray the almighty to give his family the strength to deal with this calamity.
LV Krishnan, CEO of TAM Media Research
Hemant was not just a wonderful professional colleague, he was also a dear friend too. Over our 3 decades of working together in the Media industry, Hemant’s contribution was humongous - ranging from National Readership studies (NRS), TV Viewership studies, TGI, Web Audience Measurement and multiple Cross Media and Single Source studies. He also played an instrumental role in the early setting up stages of TAM. Given a constantly evolving Media environment, interacting with Hemant helped us in TAM to incorporate some of his perspective of being abreast of the changes and staying ahead of the curve. This always ensured giving birth to new ideas and bringing creativity in Research products from our stable, for the industry. He was in many ways a guardian of TAM and he will always remain for us, an Inspirer in years to come.”
Divya Karani, Ex-CEO, DentsuX
“I can't, believe it. I've known him for three decades,.from his IMRB days. He called us for some work two months ago, It's shocking.”
Rajiv Dubey, Senior GM Head - Media, Dabur India
I remember meeting Hemant in 1994 at our Ashoka Hotel office when he was at IMRB. IMRB used to run a Diary-Based TV Rating system where one could obtain viewership data. We would receive printed books every week, and we needed to record the data manually, input it into manual Excel sheets, and tabulate GRPs, etc. A good program would usually have a rating of over 25, and a bad one about 10. That was before INTAM and TAM ratings came into being.
We’ve had a long journey together. Will miss you, Hemant!
Vinod Thadani, Chief Digital Growth Officer - Dentsu Media Group & Chief Executive Officer - iProspect
Hemant was a great colleague and v v helpful whenever I had reached out for work. May God give his family all the strength to bear this loss.
Abhinav Iyer, Senior General Marketing at Muthoot Finance
This is very sad news and indeed a big blow to the industry. He was an extremely sharp and highly competent research and insights’ professional. I had heard and read the news too. He hasn’t worked for us directly but I had met him couple of times. Prayers for his soul to rest in peace. Om Tat Sat.
Vinita Shah, Senior Media and Sports Consultant
Hemant, the affable, sharp, and astute pillar of research in India. He was a masterclass in data driven storytelling. His book India in Numbers and factoids on LinkedIn are reference points and a marketers delight. We will remember him for the various collaborative projects that laid foundations for future research tools in India. The research industry has lost an exceptional individual.
Shivjeet Khullar, Creative Director, J&A (Joint and Arms) Communications
He added up to be one of the nicest men I have ever known. Number of years that I knew him 3. Number of times we actually met 0. Number of hours we did zoom calls 20. Number of messages we exchanged 3289. Probability of him helping me when I called 100/100. Chances that he will go to heaven 1000/1000. RIP Hemant Mehta. Possibly one of the most astute research minds ever in India. A legend passes on.
Debparna Banerjee, Founder, Itai Doshin Media
I’m still recovering from the shock. Just can’t imagine he is gone. Hemant got me onboard at Kantar and I have worked closely with him for about five years. He used to pull my leg all the time but a whole lot of learnings just to be in his presence. I used to call him Wikipedia or Google search in jest. His knowledge was just unmatched. Give him any topic and he would just know things.
