V Ramani, who was amongst the pioneers of digital marketing in India, has passed away today afternoon in Mumbai. Exchange4media reported on Monday that he was hospitalised and said to be critical.

Ramani, who had graduated with a mathematics degree from K J Somaiya College in Mumbai started his advertising career in 1982 with Lintas. Prior to that, he had taught actuarial sciences at LIC. At the time, he was working on Unilever brands. He moved on in December 1989 to join McCann Erickson in Delhi as its Director for media planning and buying. From McCann, Ramani was headed to Ulka and then in 1993, he joined Contract Advertising, where he stayed for three years.

From 2000, Ramani saw many avatars from Mediaturf to Connecturf and Ignitee. In November 2011, Ramani had launched another venture Parietal in partnership with Harminder Datta, who was formerly Chief Strategy Officer at Ignitee with the aim to bring consumer focussed planning back to the media industry.