Hires & Promotions: Leo Burnett, 4AM Worldwide, Spinach Experience Design, Ogilvy

Leo Burnett Mumbai bolsters its leadership team

Leo Burnett Mumbai, part of the Publicis Groupe India, has reported new appointments to its senior leadership team.

The team now comprises Abhimanyu Khedkar elevated as managing partner, Neetika Aggarwal appointed as managing partner, and Saurabh Dahiya as the head of strategy.

Khedkar started his journey with Leo Burnett 8.5 years ago and has now been promoted to managing partner. He has worked on some of the biggest brands in the Burnett portfolio and his work has been recognised at many international and national platforms.

As a managing partner, Aggarwal joins the Leo Burnett Mumbai team to bolster its partnerships, expertise, and capabilities. In a career spanning over two decades, she has worked with Nestle for its confectionary portfolio, PepsiCo foods, Airtel, TOI, Microsoft, Nokia, LG, IndusInd Bank.

Her last stint before joining Leo Burnett was with VMLY&R. Before that she spent a few years with WPP@CP where she was the business and integration lead for Colgate Palmolive, bringing in expertise across ecommerce, CRM and FPD.

Dahiya joined us a few months ago as executive director & sead of Strategy. He brings over 18 years of experience, with a career spanning the Middle East, South East Asia & India in brand, digital and customer experience strategy. His knack for harnessing truth & talent to help brands matter in culture, changing contexts and commercial landscapes will add depth and perspective for Leo Burnett’s client partners.

Together Khedkar and Aggarwal will lead Leo Burnett Mumbai on the business front while Dahiya will lead and drive the strategic function.

Commenting on the leadership changes, Amitesh Rao, chief executive officer, Leo Burnett, South Asia shares, “Leo Burnett Mumbai is one of the top creative agencies in the country today, having seen an incredible run of success in paving the way for new age solutions for its clients. It is also an agency with insatiable ambition and hunger, and the enhanced leadership team is at the vanguard of our future growth and glory. I am delighted to have Abhimanyu, Neetika and Saurabh – with their diverse strategic, corporate and client backgrounds - bring brilliant new perspectives to our journey going forward.”

Sriparna Tikekar joins 4AM Worldwide as chief creative officer

4AM Worldwide has named Sriparna Tikekar as its chief creative officer. She will be responsible for leading the creative vision for 4AM and will work closely with teams on revamping the agency’s creative offering and structure, bolstering its content marketing and creative strategy, curating content services and building brands of scale.

In a career spanning over 15 years in the media industry, Tikekar ’s last stint was as chief content officer (CCO) and co-founder of ScoopWhoop. 

Jonathan Sreekumaran, chief business officer, 4AM Worldwide, says, “We are on an accelerated path of creative transformation, and we couldn’t have had a better time to bring Sriparna on board. Her grip on pop culture, content consumption patterns, platform-centric content dissemination, and reader psychology is unparalleled. She brings a unique perspective and creative flair that will undoubtedly elevate our creative output. With Sriparna’s deep understanding of content creation for brands and customer engagement, she is uniquely positioned to drive creative excellence. We are excited to welcome her to the team.”

On taking up her new role, Tikekar comments, “In any industry, the first-mover advantage, the right time to pivot, and the exact moment of a shift are what keep companies ahead of the curve. At this transformational time in 4AM’s journey, I fit in like the missing piece of the puzzle. I am excited to be a part of this agency’s growth trajectory and look forward to working closely with teams on leveraging the agency’s capabilities of creative, technology, data-driven experience, and design.”

Tikekar will be working closely with Jonathan Sreekumaran and Siddhartha Sahni at 4AM Worldwide.

Agnello Dias joins Spinach Experience Design as co-founder

Ad veteran Agnello Dias has joined Spinach Experience Design as co-founder. In his previous role as creative chairman of Dentsu and co-founder of Taproot Dentsu, Dias led the agency to global recognition, ranking among the top 20 independent agencies worldwide.

Eshani Kumbhani, who is the co-founder and director of UX at Spinach Experience states, “With over 30 years of creative excellence, strategy and leadership, Aggi dons the role of Director - Growth, Strategy and Customer Experience at Spinach. In the past year, Aggi has led the transformation of the company from a service-led mindset to an expertise-driven full-stack and integrated user experience design and development company.”

Dias left JWT to co-found independent agency Taproot India, with his colleague Santosh Padhi. Taproot was later acquired by one of the world's largest ad-holding companies, Dentsu. 

Publicis Worldwide's Pratheeb Ravi joins Ogilvy as ECD

Executive creative director Pratheeb Ravi, the former head of creative services at Publicis Worldwide, has joined Ogilvy.

After beginning his career with Interface Communications, Ravi moved on to work for Lowe MENA, Contract Advertising and Triton Communications.

Talha B. Mohsin, the executive creative director of Ogilvy, also departed the advertising world on April 17.