W+K Winds Down Mumbai Office, Cuts Back On Operations & Staffing

The Mumbai office of Wieden+Kennedy will close at the end of the year. Additionally, the creative agency is going to reduce the number of employees in its Delhi location. According to the company, it is attempting to determine how the Indian market fits into its long-term goals.

The statement follows the announcements of the departures of president Ayesha Ghosh and chief creative officer (CCO) Santosh Padhi (Paddy) from the agency. To ensure a smooth transition, the pair will stay with W+K until the end of the current year.

Early in 2022, Padhi began working as CCO at W+K, and soon after, Ayesha Ghosh, a former Taproot coworker, joined him. Together, they launched W+K's Mumbai branch and managed the company's business and creative activities in Delhi and Mumbai. Together, the two offices generated new business and developed campaigns for a variety of companies, such as Brownkind skin care, Hero Motocorp's Vida, Jindal's Steel of Oman, Jockey's Freedom or Nothing, G Shock's Rise Above the Shocks, Hero Cycles' Cycle Hero Hai, and Clove Dental's Whistle.

W+K said its Delhi branch employees will report directly to global leadership. "Delhi employees will report to global leadership as we are not rehiring leadership to replace Paddy and Ayesha, and we will be closing the Mumbai office. For the foreseeable future, we won't be taking on client opportunities in Delhi or Mumbai," Wieden+Kennedy said in an official statement.

The company concluded by saying, "It's not totally out of the realm of possibility that we will ramp back up again in the future."