Mumbai: Veena Muley has started a new innings at Nivea India as integrated media expert and marketing lead, an on-site role based in Mumbai. She joins from WPP Media, where she spent four years and eight months on Team Unilever, and she arrives with a record that already has a number attached: about 25% growth for Dove and Pears.
From broadcaster to agency to brand
The move completes an unusual loop. Before WPP Media, Muley spent nearly three years at Star TV Network in ad sales, managing commercial bookings, release orders, deal creation, spot planning and inventory for channels such as Star Movies, Star Gold and National Geographic. She led a team of eight and handled IPL 2020 advertising bookings.
At WPP Media she moved to the planning table. From November 2023 to September 2026 as client leadership manager on Team Unilever, she led integrated multi-media strategy and planning for Hindustan Unilever’s personal care and oral care portfolio — deodorants, Closeup, Pepsodent, Dove and Pears — across TV, YouTube, CTV, OTT and social. That is where Dove and Pears delivered about 25% growth versus last year.
Why this matters for Nivea India
Nivea is getting a marketer who has worked all three sides of media: the broadcaster’s inventory desk, the agency’s planning function and now the advertiser’s brand side. That full-circle view is handy in a crowded personal care market where media efficiency and consumer insight decide how far a rupee travels.
What Muley brings is not just channel planning but a data-led approach. At WPP Media she owned end-to-end media planning, budgeting, audience targeting, execution and optimisation, and used competitive and post-campaign analysis to turn insights into actionable recommendations. She also contributed to an internal media planning tool for TV, helping automate parts of end-to-end planning and improve optimisation.
What marketers can take from the move
- Hire for the full funnel: experience across buying, planning and selling media shortens the gap between strategy and execution.
- Tie media to business growth: the roughly 25% growth on Dove and Pears is a reminder that media plans should be measured against revenue, not just reach.
- Automate the repetitive: even small planning-tool contributions can reduce manual work and sharpen optimisation.
At Nivea India, Muley will partner closely with brand and agency teams to drive consumer-led media strategies and integrated campaigns. The early expectation is more tightly connected TV, digital, CTV, OTT and social bets, with data and research doing more of the heavy lifting.
Source: Indian Television Dot Com
