MAM
Leo Burnett Mumbai announces new appointments to its senior leadership team
Mumbai – Leo Burnett Mumbai, part of the Publicis Groupe India, has announced new appointments to its senior leadership team. The agency is poised to leverage its momentum and success, and the new leadership team will power the leap forward to the next phase of growth.
The enhanced leadership structure is designed for a culture of greater empowerment, agility in decision making, and the capability to drive more of the new age solutions for clients that Leo Burnett has been making a name for itself for. The Leo Burnett Mumbai senior leadership team now comprises Abhimanyu Khedkar elevated as managing partner, Neetika Aggarwal appointed as managing partner, and Saurabh Dahiya as head of strategy.
Khedkar (Abhi) started his journey with Leo Burnett 8.5 years ago and has now been promoted to managing partner. Abhi has worked on some of the biggest brands in the Burnett portfolio and his work has been recognised at many international and national platforms. His dedication and accomplishments over the years have been instrumental to Leo Burnett’s success and he continues to be an important force in driving the future of the agency.
As managing partner, Aggarwal joins the Leo Burnett Mumbai team to bolster its partnerships, expertise, and capabilities. In a career spanning over two decades, Neetika has accrued enviable experience working with some of the biggest Indian and global brands including Nestle for its confectionary portfolio, PepsiCo foods, Airtel, TOI, Microsoft, Nokia, LG, IndusInd Bank. She also led some of the biggest digital interventions for Facebook including the successful Facebook Thumbstopper and Instagram Love Runs Deep properties. Her last stint before joining Leo Burnett was with VMLY&R. Prior to 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 & head of strategy. In just a short span of time he has been indispensable to the agency in sharpening its strategic creativity capability to drive growth & transformation for clients. Saurabh brings over 18 years of experience, with a career spanning the Middle-East, South East Asia & India in brand, digital and customer experience strategy. Saurabh’s 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 Abhimanyu and Neetika will lead Leo Burnett Mumbai on the business front while Saurabh Dahiya will lead and drive the strategic function.
Commenting on the leadership changes, Leo Burnett, South Asia CEO Amitesh Rao shared, “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 perspective to our journey going forward.”
MAM
Brands push beyond compliance as trust takes centre stage
ASCI AdTrust Summit 2026 spotlights shift from legal checks to credibility.
MUMBAI: In a world where a disclaimer can be legally sound yet socially suspect, brands are learning that compliance may tick boxes but trust wins markets. At the inaugural ASCI AdTrust Summit 2026, a panel on “Beyond Compliance: The New Currency of Trust” unpacked a growing industry reality: the gap between what the law permits and what consumers accept is widening and fast.
Moderated by Meenakshi Ramkumar of National Law School of India University, the discussion brought together leaders across law, marketing and academia to examine how brands must evolve in a digital ecosystem increasingly shaped by scrutiny, scepticism and speed.
Ramkumar set the tone by highlighting a critical shift, advertising today operates in the same digital space that fuels misinformation, scams and fake news, making credibility harder to establish. “The challenge is not just about what brands do, but the broader context of low institutional trust,” she noted, adding that when violations go unchecked, trust erodes not just in brands but in the regulatory system itself.
This vacuum, she said, has given rise to consumer activism from boycotts to social media backlash as a parallel accountability mechanism.
For Amit Bhasin, Chief Legal Officer at Marico, the distinction was clear, legal compliance is non negotiable, but insufficient. “Compliance is the minimum threshold. The real challenge is staying aligned with changing consumer expectations,” he said.
He pointed to how advertising narratives have evolved from traditional depictions of gender roles to more shared responsibilities reflecting a broader societal shift. “Earlier, it was fine to show one person doing the household work. Today, that may not land well. Consumers expect brands to reflect reality,” Bhasin observed.
He also highlighted internal debates where campaigns that may be legally permissible are still rejected for being culturally insensitive, noting that responsible advertising often requires asking uncomfortable questions before the public does.
If compliance is the baseline, reputation is the battlefield.
Bhasin noted that reputational risk has become a far greater concern than legal exposure, particularly in an era where campaigns can be dissected within hours online. “Earlier, a controversial ad might invite a newspaper editorial. Today, within hours, you’re at the centre of a storm,” he said.
Brands, he added, now evaluate campaigns through a dual lens legal viability and reputational vulnerability with the latter often proving more decisive.
From a healthcare perspective, Satish Sahoo of Cipla Health underscored the complexity of operating within fragmented yet stringent regulatory frameworks, spanning drugs, food, cosmetics and Ayush. “Anything under a drug licence is the most tightly regulated,” he said, adding that this necessitates proactive, not reactive, compliance.
He shared an example from the oral rehydration salts (ORS) category, where Cipla resisted the temptation to position products aggressively despite competitive pressure. “Our product is WHO compliant, and our communication reflects that. We chose not to blur the lines, even if others did,” he noted.
The long term payoff, he suggested, lies in credibility built over consistency, not quick wins.
Yet, as Harsha N of National Law School of India University pointed out, even perfect compliance does not guarantee trust. Drawing from historical and modern examples from exaggerated product claims in the 1800s to contemporary environmental and health advertising, he argued that legal frameworks often lag behind consumer expectations. “A brand can be fully compliant and still be perceived as misleading,” he said, citing instances where fine print disclosures fail to reach or convince the average consumer. He added that larger companies carry a disproportionate responsibility to set ethical benchmarks, even in areas where the law remains silent.
The conversation also turned to digital advertising, where the challenge extends beyond content to how ads are experienced. From algorithmic targeting to personalised messaging, brands now operate in an environment where regulation struggles to keep pace with technology.
Sahoo noted that social media has amplified awareness, with influencers and consumers increasingly scrutinising product claims and calling out inconsistencies. “Awareness has gone up dramatically. People are questioning what goes into products and what brands are saying,” he said.
The role of self regulatory bodies such as Advertising Standards Council of India also came under the spotlight.
Harsha acknowledged that while SROs play a crucial role, they are not immune to criticism, particularly around perceived conflicts of interest and enforcement gaps. “SROs have a higher threshold of responsibility not just to interpret the law, but to anticipate societal expectations,” he said.
He added that failures in self regulation often push the burden back onto government intervention, underscoring the need for stronger, more proactive oversight.
One of the more nuanced debates centred on whether building trust comes at a cost. While Sahoo acknowledged that quality and compliance can increase costs, he argued that companies must absorb them as part of their long term strategy.
Bhasin, however, framed the challenge differently not as cost, but as competitiveness in a market where not all players play by the same rules. “The real tension is when others cut corners and you choose not to,” he said.
The panel concluded with a call to embed trust into business metrics.
Sahoo suggested that organisations must go beyond revenue targets to include consumer equity and trust based KPIs, ensuring that ethical considerations are not sidelined in the pursuit of growth. “Trust sounds abstract, but it can translate into measurable consumer equity,” he said.
As the discussion wrapped up, one message stood out: the rules of advertising are being rewritten not just by regulators, but by consumers themselves. In an ecosystem where attention is fleeting and scepticism is high, brands that merely comply may survive, but those that build trust are the ones that endure.
