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Social Throwback 2023: Industry shuffles of the year

The advertising and marketing industry saw major leadership shuffles in 2023. Ogilvy announced Piyush Pandey’s move to an advisory role while Reckitt’s Dilen Gandhi moved on. Here’s an extensive list of some significant changes that the A&M industry witnessed.

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Sneha Medda
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Industry shuffles

The Indian Advertising & Marketing sector saw some noteworthy shifts in 2023. The year was filled with top-level industry leaders resigning, shifting and starting afresh. Some veteran names said their goodbyes to the industry while many new leadership roles got filled. 

In September, Ogilvy announced that agency veteran, Piyush Pandey would move into an advisory role from his current role of Global Creative and Executive Chairman of Ogilvy, starting January 1, 2024. With this big development, followed a few more internal leadership shuffles. 

Another big announcement roared the A&M industry in September. Ex-CEO of Leo Burnett South Asia and Chairman of BBH India, Dheeraj Sinha moved to FCB India, where he joined as the Group CEO of India & South Asia. 

The year had multiple elevations and resignations at dentsu as well. Dentsu Creative India's Group CCO Ajay Gahlaut quit while Anita Kotwani got promoted to CEO Media, South Asia, dentsu. 

Wunderman Thompson’s Tarun Rai retired after 30 years in the industry. 

Similar to the agency side, the brand-verse saw some big movements as well. Zee Media’s Shridhar Mishra and BYJU’s Vineet Singh bid adieu to their respective roles while P&G India appointed Mukta Mukherjee as the CMO. 

Here are some other major advertising movements that 2023 saw:

January

OYO's Mayur Hola joins Culinary Brands as CMO

 

February

Wavemaker India appoints George Kovoor as Chief Creative Officer

Pizza Hut India appoints Aanandita Datta as CMO

Aparna Bhawal joins KFC as CMO for India & Partner Countries

Havas Group's Neeraj Bassi joins Cheil India as Chief Growth Officer

FCB Group India appoints Amita Karia as CFO

Dentsu Creative India's Group CCO Ajay Gahlaut calls it quits

 

March

BBH India appoints Parixit Bhattacharya as CCO

Havas Group India appoints Tarun Jha as CEO - Havas Creative India

Harsha Razdan appointed as CEO, South Asia, dentsu

Dentsu elevates Sanjay Bhasin & Prakash Kamdar to promote growth in Southeast Asia

Anita Kotwani gets promoted to CEO Media, South Asia, dentsu

Nikhil Gandhi steps down as MX Player’s Chief Operating Officer

 

April

Wavemaker India appoints Deepa Jatkar as Chief Growth Officer

Havas India elevates Sangeeta Barde as CEO of Havas Life Sorento

 

May 

Lowe Lintas appoints Prateek Bhardwaj as CCO and Head of Creative

Shemaroo onboards Anuja Trivedi as CMO

Rediffusion appoints Divyanshu Bhadoria as CSO

Dentsu appoints Prerna Mehrotra as Chief Client Officer

Wunderman Thompson’s Tarun Rai retires after 30 years in the industry

Future Generali India Life Insurance appoints Geetanjali Chugh Kothari as CMO

 

June

Ruchira Jaitly to be CMO at Diageo India as Deepika Warrier moves on

Bombay Shaving Company appoints Gauri Malhotra as CMO

 

July

L’oréal India elevates Saloni Shah to Chief Digital & Marketing Officer

Carat appoints Sanchayeeta Verma as CEO India

Scarecrow M&C Saatchi onboards Samera Khan as CTO

Dentsu Creative India onboards Surjo Dutt as CCO - West & South

Ogilvy's Creative Director Karthik Krishnan moves on

dentsu X India appoints Jose Leon as CEO

 

August

Sajeev Chemmany to be Kalyan Jewellers India's new CMO

Bobby Pawar steps down as Chairman & CCO of Havas India

Pidilite Industries appoints Manish Dubey as Chief Marketing Officer

APL Apollo appoints Charu Malhotra as Chief Brand Officer

Mukta Maheshwari joins P&G India as CMO

Reckitt’s Dilen Gandhi moves on

 

September

Dheeraj Sinha to step down from the roles of Co-Chief Executive at Leo Burnett South Asia & Chairman of BBH India

FCB hires Dheeraj Sinha; Rohit Ohri to become FCB Global Partner

Ogilvy India announces leadership transition; Piyush Pandey to take on the role of Chief Advisor

 

October

Mankind Pharma appoints Sanjay Koul as CMO

Wavemaker India elevates Sairam Ranganathan to Chief Digital Officer

DDB’s Aditya Kanthy appointed as CEO of newly formed Omnicom Advertising Services in India

 

November

Rajdeepak Das appointed as CCO, Publicis Groupe South Asia and Chairman, Leo Burnett South Asia

Upasana Naithani joins Wunderman Thompson as VP & CSD

 

December 

Vibhor Mehrotra moves on from Publicis Groupe's Zenith

Ogilvy Mumbai appoints Anurag Agnihotri as CCO – West

Meta’s Avinash Pant rejoins Red Bull

Joy Chauhan moves on from Wunderman Thompson

Ex-Google Kiran Mani joins Viacom18

L&K Saatchi & Saatchi elevates Rohit Malkani and Kartik Smetacek to CCOs

BYJU’S Vineet Singh moves on

Zee Media’s Shridhar Mishra steps down

Dentsu Ogilvy piyush pandey leadership movements industry shuffles