Taproot Dentsu, the creative agency arm of Dentsu India, has announced key leadership changes.
Ayesha Ghosh has been appointed as Chief Executive Officer (CEO). She will now be handling both Mumbai and Gurgaon offices. “Ayesha Ghosh, who had been heading the Mumbai office, has now been appointed as Chief Executive Officer (CEO). She will now be responsible for both Mumbai and Gurgaon offices. Ayesha has been with Taproot Dentsu since December 2015. She has led a very profitable office and has helped win important new businesses while nurturing and protecting a culture that allows creativity to flourish,” said the press release.
Ayesha Ghosh, CEO, Taproot Dentsu said, “It’s as exciting as it is nerve-racking to step into this role! Nerve-racking, because the standards set are very high. And these are tough times for business. Exciting, because we have young blood, hungry to prove a point. Either way, this is an adrenaline-pumping opportunity and with this super talented team, we are set up to win. We have some giant brands which give us a vast canvas to create advertising that can capture the popular imagination. Others have reposed their faith in us to help meet or surpass their ambitions. With the help of Paddy, Shashank and the rest, I’m sure we’ll be keeping the Taproot flag flying very high.”
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While Shashank Lanjekar has been elevated to the role of Chief Strategy Officer (CSO) and will now be in charge of strategic planning for both the Taproot Dentsu offices in Mumbai and Gurgaon.
Shashank Lanjekar, CSO, Taproot Dentsu said, “I see this as a once-in-a-career opportunity to lead a young team to pull off some good work. The attempt of the strategic planning function at Taproot Dentsu has been to exercise the rigour and depth necessary to drive clarity for creative disruption to breathe. With a fresh set of minds in the planning teams of Mumbai and Delhi, it only helps the strike rate for great work to be created.”
Pearl Vas, who has been a part of the agency since 2018, will now be working in the capacity of Senior Vice President (SVP), Strategic Planning.
Under the overall creative leadership of Santosh Padhi, Co-Founder and Chief Creative Officer (CCO) – Taproot Dentsu, the creative team for the Mumbai office will be working as separate four units, each to be headed by a senior creative person.
Neeraj Kanitkar, with an experience of 14 years out of which nine years experience in Taproot Dentsu, is the creative lead for Facebook for which he has won the agency awards at Spikes and AdFest. He has notably worked on significant brands like WhatsApp, Myntra, American Tourister and FirstPost. He will be promoted to the position of Executive Creative Director (ECD). Apart from him, Yogesh Rijhwani who has been working in the agency for close to five years with a total experience of 13 years, will be promoted to ECD. He is contributing his efforts in handling Aquaguard and Set Wet. He has also worked on Star Sports, Airtel, Parle-G among others.
Apart from them, the other two senior creative leads will be Abhishek Deshwal and Purva Ummat. Abhishek joins from Lowe Delhi as ECD, with noteworthy work done for the brands like Google, Olx, Micromax and Vivo. And, Purva Ummat joins the agency from McCann Erickson Delhi, as Senior Creative Director (SCD). She has been a part of creative work like Truly Madly, Truecaller, Hotstar, Myntra and Dominos.
Abhinav Kaushik, who was Executive Vice President (EVP) on the Honda business among other brands, will be joining the position of Head – Taproot Dentsu, Gurgaon while Titus Upputuru remains in charge of creative for the Gurgaon office.
Agnello Dias, Co-Founder and CCO – Taproot Dentsu, who will not be involved for a few years in active work, will further dial down his involvement.
Agnello Dias (Aggi) Co-Founder & CCO, Taproot Dentsu said, “I’m delighted that Taproot Dentsu has produced and attracted this kind of talent. Both Neeraj and Yogesh have been with us for many years and the quality of work they have produced in the last couple of years shows that they’re ready for the next step. I have been around these past few years to make sure that they are ready, and now that it’s clear they are, I have decided to step back further.”
He will be an active consultant for key brands only. His association with Dentsu International ends this month.
Umesh Shrikhande retired as CEO in March 2021, after contributing to strengthening the strategic function at Taproot Dentsu, to get result-oriented work and also nurtured a very humane work culture.
Santosh Padhi will continue in the capacity of the Co-Founder and CCO and will be having a more hands-on role in both the offices of Mumbai and Delhi.
Santosh Padhi (Paddy) Co-Founder & CCO, Taproot Dentsu said, “The average age of the agency coming further down is the right sign for us being future-ready. Creativity is at the core of our business and we are lucky to have got a wonderful variety of creative leaders in the form of Neeraj, Yogesh, Abhishek and Purva fronting the agency to take it to the next level, along with Ayesha and Shashank in their new national head roles.”