Dentsu Singapore CXM and media MD steps down

Rahul Thappa (pictured) has stepped down from his role as managing director, media and customer experience management (CXM) at dentsu Singapore.

Speaking to MARKETING-INTERACTIVE, Thappa said the move is driven by a return to India for personal and family reasons, alongside what he described as an “exciting next chapter” professionally.

He is set to return to Gurgaon, India, where he will continue within the media ecosystem, with a focus on technology and solutions.

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“India represents extraordinary momentum, deep technology talent, entrepreneurial energy, and significant opportunity in the marketing and media ecosystem,” he said, adding that he intends to stay within the industry while focusing on structural challenges such as complexity, effectiveness, productivity, and growth.

“This is not a step away from the industry. It is a move back home, and closer to the kind of problem-solving that will define the next phase of marketing,” he added.

In an initial LinkedIn post announcing his departure, Thappa described his time at the agency as a “short but meaningful stint”. He said a combination of personal and professional ambitions ultimately shaped his decision to move on.

During his tenure at dentsu Singapore, Thappa highlighted the quality of talent and clients as one of the most meaningful aspects of his stint, noting that client expectations pushed teams to rethink traditional media operations.

“It forced us to think beyond conventional media operations and ask how we could create better systems for strategy, planning, orchestration, optimisation, and performance,” he said.

A key milestone, he added, was the development of “Vulcan”, an AI-driven media orchestration platform now being adopted across dentsu Southeast Asia. Thappa described Vulcan as an early but significant step towards building “intelligent operating systems” for media teams, aimed at improving productivity, decision-making and performance in an increasingly complex ecosystem.

“It emerged from a clear belief that media teams need more than incremental workflow improvements,” he said.

Beyond the platform, Thappa said he leaves with strong relationships across the organisation, adding that the experience gave him “friendships, learning, and enormous respect for the people who made the journey meaningful.”

When asked how he would like his tenure to be remembered, Thappa said legacy is ultimately defined by others, but hoped to be seen as someone who was “approachable, solution-oriented, and willing to take on difficult problems with sincerity.” He added: 

I would also hope to be remembered as someone who cared about people as much as performance.

Looking ahead, Thappa will be moving back to India to join an AI-driven adtech company focused on media orchestration and analytics, where he will take on a partner role overseeing revenue and growth. He said the focus will be on solving long-standing industry challenges around productivity and performance in an increasingly complex media environment, where he believes agentic AI and automation will play a critical enabling role.

“Ultimately, the math has to be solved first, understanding causality, allocating budgets intelligently, and connecting signals across platforms,” he said. “Technology then becomes the layer that scales those decisions.”

Prior to dentsu Singapore, Thappa was managing director at Naviga in India. He also held senior roles at FOX Networks Group Asia and Astro, where he led functions across ad sales strategy, data analytics, and business intelligence.

Earlier in his career, he spent several years at Mindshare Malaysia, where he held multiple leadership roles across client leadership, partnerships and business direction, after starting as a planning and buying director for Team Unilever.

Thappa's departure also comes amid broader changes within dentsu’s global leadership. Earlier this year, the network unveiled a leadership restructure, appointing Takeshi Sano as global CEO, effective 27 March. Sano, who currently serves as CEO of Dentsu Japan and deputy global COO, has been with the company since 1992, holding senior roles across business transformation, digital consulting and growth strategy.

Meanwhile, Hiroshi Igarashi stepped down after more than 40 years with the company. The reshuffle also saw Yoshimasa Watahiki take on an expanded leadership role, while Arinobu Soga exited as global chief governance officer.

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