Premium Automotive · Integrated Digital · Canada
Hitali Makkar.
Integrated digital media leader for premium automotive.
Eleven years in digital media, five of them leading a $40M integrated automotive account through a category downturn. Now based in Canada, working on where premium brands go next.
About
I hold the strategic pen across specialists.
For five years I led integrated digital for a premium automotive portfolio: search, programmatic, paid social, video and first-party audience activation, each sitting with a specialist team while I held the strategy layer above their craft.
The work I am proudest of is a two-year full-funnel turnaround against a contracting luxury category. Alongside it: P&L and fee-book stewardship, CMO-tier client trust across five years, and two direct reports mentored into promotion.
More about me→
Expertise
What I bring to a premium automotive seat.
Full-Funnel Automotive Strategy
From brand awareness through configurator behaviour to dealer test-drive booking, designed as one connected system rather than a set of channels.
Programmatic & Performance
DV360, The Trade Desk, Amazon DSP and CM360. Hands-on across the buy, working in orchestration with specialist teams rather than over them.
Search, Social, CTV & Retail Media
Paid search, Meta with CAPI, YouTube, connected TV and the Canadian retail media networks now becoming serious audience surfaces.
Global Brand, Local Market
Launches delivered under global brand governance while adapting mix and weighting to local buyer reality. Governance and commerce are not enemies.
Identity, Data & Measurement
First-party activation, LiveRamp, ID5, UID 2.0 and clean rooms, with MMM and incrementality as the accountability layer. Canadian privacy is not US privacy.
Team & Commercial Leadership
A 22 to 25 person integrated team, P&L and fee-book ownership, and a leadership record measured in promotions rather than headcount.
Senior Business Director
dentsu international
Five years and three promotions, leading integrated digital on a premium automotive portfolio: $40M in annual media investment, a 22 to 25 person team, and a dealer-network turnaround that lifted qualified leads 34% against a contracting category.
Agency & AdTech Foundations
Graphene Media · Httpool · Times Internet · Exponential
Digital media leadership across agencies and ad tech: account direction, display and programmatic, and the operating fluency that underpins strategy.
Next chapter
Where premium brands go next.
Open to senior digital and integrated media roles in Canada. Authorized to work here, no sponsorship required.
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