MAM
FCB Ulka appoints Surjo Dutt as national creative director
MUMBAI: FCB Ulka has appointed Surjo Dutt as national creative director. Surjo joins FCB Ulka from Sapient Nitro where he worked as Head of Creative – Delhi.
Surjo played a key role in the most successful year for Sapient Nitro’s advertising business since its’ inception in India. The Delhi office won marquee creative projects for brands like Nestle, British Airways and Philips during his 15-month stint.
The British Airways campaign #fuelledbylove and Nestle’s corporate campaign titled #100andrunning were standout pieces of creative work that not only worked in the marketplace, but also, were highly awarded. Goafest, Kyoorius, APAC brand engagement awards, Hollywood A-list awards, CIDCA, TAMBULI are some of the award shows where these campaigns were recognized.
Prior to this he was with JWT Delhi as Vice President and Executive Creative Director (ECD). He began his career with JWT as a trainee copywriter 17 years ago. In his 17-year stint Surjo worked on a huge variety of brands and categories including pretty much all brands in JWT Delhi.
Some of the brands Surjo worked on included Pepsi, 7UP, Mirinda, Mountain Dew, Slice, Tropicana, Frito Lay, Nestle, Airtel, Nokia, GSK, Hero Motocorp, UNICEF, CONGRESS, NOKIA, Hamdard and RADIKAL. He was also a part of JWT’s global High Performance Group for 2 years.
Speaking on Surjo’s new role at FCB Ulka, FCB Ulka CCO Swati Bhattacharya said, “I remember the first time we heard the line ‘cheetah bhi peeta hai’ in JWT. We all knew the new kid on the Pepsi floor was special. Surjo’s omnivorous talent comes with an infectious energy and passion that not just creates great creative work but also strong creative teams. I am absolutely excited to have him partner me in building a bright creative future for FCB India.”
Commenting on Surjo’s appointment, FCB Ulka CEO Nitin Karkare said, “Surjo is a powerhouse of talent. The sheer energy that he brings to every assignment makes him a delight to work with. He is a great people’s person and his teams are always ready to give their best for him. He is a fantastic addition to our creative leadership team and I am sure our clients will benefit from his work”.
Speaking on his new role at FCB Ulka, Dutt said, “FCB Ulka is an agency I have always admired for not just its work but also its core values and culture. And now with true game changers like Rohit and Swati coming in, it’s a wonderful time to be in this agency. I am thrilled to be a part of the team and will do everything I can to write my bit of the success story that is sure to be written.
Brands
Canva appoints MangoAI co-founder Nirmal Govind as chief algorithms officer
Acquires MangoAI to power performance driven AI at scale
MUMBAI: Design platform Canva has appointed Nirmal Govind as its first chief algorithms officer following the acquisition of AI powered creative optimisation start up MangoAI. The move signals a sharper focus on performance driven artificial intelligence across Canva’s global ecosystem.
Govind, who co founded MangoAI in 2025, built the company around reinforcement learning for generative video advertising. In simple terms, it helped brands not just create ads, but continually refine them using data driven feedback loops. With the acquisition now complete, that experimentation mindset is set to scale inside Canva’s rapidly expanding AI stack.
Before launching MangoAI, Govind served as vice president of data science and engineering at Netflix, where he spent eight years leading teams across content, studio, creative production and streaming. He was part of Netflix’s executive staff, working closely with senior leadership on creative algorithms, localisation and production innovation.
His earlier career reflects a strong operations research pedigree. He held senior technology roles at Lightning Bolt Solutions and worked in engineering and optimisation at Intel Corporation and IBM. Academically, he holds a PhD in industrial engineering and operations research from Penn State University and a master’s degree from University of California, Berkeley.
For Canva, the appointment is more than a new title. It reflects the growing importance of algorithms in shaping not only how designs look, but how they perform. As brands demand measurable outcomes from creative work, the line between art and optimisation is blurring. Canva appears keen to sit right at that intersection.
With Govind now steering its algorithms strategy, Canva is betting that the future of design will not just be beautiful, but intelligently tuned for impact.
