Ashish Mishra, former Chief Marketing Officer of Acko, is set to join Zee Entertainment Enterprises (ZEEL) as its Chief Marketing Officer, according to sources confirmed by BW Marketing World.
Mishra will succeed Kartik Mahadev, who has stepped down as CMO of Zee and Zee5 after more than seven and a half years with the company. Sources indicate that Mahadev is expected to move into a new senior leadership role within Sandeep Mehrotra’s team.
Mishra brings more than two decades of experience across brand building, consumer marketing, advertising and digital-first businesses. His move marks a transition from financial services to the media and entertainment sector.
From Acko to Zee
Mishra joins Zee after nearly six years at Acko, where he joined in 2020 and played a key role in building the digital insurer into a recognised consumer brand.
During his tenure, Acko expanded its marketing narrative beyond motor insurance as it entered categories such as health and life insurance. Mishra was associated with developing a distinctive, conversational brand voice focused on simplifying insurance and making the category more accessible to younger, digitally active consumers.
Some of the prominent campaigns during his stint included ‘Ode to Mumbai’, the return of Munna Bhai and Circuit for Acko’s health insurance communication, campaigns featuring Saif Ali Khan and Sara Ali Khan, and the ‘Car Ka Action Hero’ campaign featuring MS Dhoni and R Madhavan.
Mishra was also associated with Acko’s ‘Tailor Test’ initiative, which won a Gold Lion at the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity in 2025.
Before Acko, Mishra spent more than a decade with HSBC in the UAE, holding several senior marketing positions. His roles included Head of Marketing for Cards, Loans and Mortgages and Regional Marketing Manager for Media and Foreign Exchange. He also handled marketing responsibilities across personal loans, mortgages, auto loans and digital-channel migration.
He began his career in advertising, working with Lowe Lintas and DDB Mudra Group in brand and communications roles before moving into financial-services marketing.
Kartik Mahadev Steps Down
Kartik Mahadev has stepped down as CMO of Zee and Zee5, bringing his association with the company to a close. He took over as CMO in September 2021, overseeing marketing and growth across Zee’s television and digital streaming businesses.
His mandate included driving audience growth, strengthening content discovery and developing consumer propositions across television, Zee5 and other digital video platforms. Alongside his CMO role, Mahadev had also headed digital growth for the Zee Network since June 2019, working on the integration of broadcast and digital marketing strategies as viewing behaviour shifted across platforms.
Mahadev joined ZEEL in early 2019 as Head of Marketing and Communications for its English entertainment cluster, comprising Zee Café, &flix and &PriveHD. He was subsequently elevated to Business Head of the English Premium Channel Cluster before taking on the larger CMO mandate in 2021.
Mishra’s incoming appointment and Mahadev’s exit come at a time when media and entertainment companies are recalibrating their marketing strategies around fragmented audiences, cross-platform consumption and the growing importance of digital engagement.
