MAM
Mudra appoints Bobby Pawar as national creative director
MUMBAI: Mudra Advertising has roped in Bobby Pawar as national creative director. In his capacity, he will oversee the agency’s creative product across the country.
Mudra CEO and managing director Madhukar Kamath said, “I couldn’t have thought of a better person to lead our creative team in these interesting times. Bobby is a great advertising man, but more importantly, he is a creative business solutions thinker. That is critical. We have in the Mudra Group the unique advantage of an excellent marketing services network, I can’t wait for Bobby to join us and help unleash ours and our client’s potential! Bobby comes with glowing recommendations from some of the legends in the advertising business; our team will learn so much from him.”
He is has been credited with having created some untraditional and iconic work for brands such as Wrigley’s Winterfresh, Wrigley’s Doublemint, LaSalle Bank, Mortgage.com, United Way and Lifesavers, informs an official release.
“Bobby has extensive experience working on both global and local brands and working at both the local and global levels. This understanding of both, coupled with his passion for creativity, makes him an outstanding addition to Mudra,” DDB Worldwide chairman and chief creative officer Bob Scarpelli said.
A former 0&M India executive, Pawar rose from senior copywriter to creative director and worked on award winning campaigns for Tata Safari, Tata Sierra, Kelvinator, British Airways and bagged copywriter of the year twice (1998, 2000).
In 2000, he joined Ogilvy & Mather , New York as a creative director. There he worked on brands like Jaguar, American Express and Kodak. He helped pitch for AT&T Wireless and was asked to run the $600 million account when the agency won it. He re-launched AT&T Wireless with the much talked about ‘mlife’ campaign.
In 2004, he moved to BBDO, Chicago as group creative director. He worked with CCO Marty Orzio and helped turn the agency around.
Following a seven year US stint Pawar returns to India. “I have the greatest regard for what Mudra has achieved in this market so far, that coupled with my admiration for DDB made me want to lead Mudra. The combination of working with great talent and big brands in what is arguably the toughest market in the world has given a unique perspective on work.
“In the States, more so than any part of the world, advertising as it is traditionally practiced is slowly failing. Most consumers have become apathetic to marketing communication and have begun to actively avoid it. This forced us to re-look at how to engage the consumer instead of merely intruding on his time. I hope to bring all that learning to bear in my new role. The challenge is exciting, this is a major opportunity,” he says.
Spanning his career, he has also had the opportunity to work directly with legends in the business including creative gurus like Neil French, Rick Boyko, Steve Hayden and Marty Orzio; planning stalwarts like Tony Wright, Chip Walker; and directors like Bryan Buckley, Tony Scott, Javier Blanco, Noam Murro, Martin Granger.
Brands
Unilever appoints Reema Jain as chief information officer
AI-driven transformation takes centre stage as Jain steps up
MUMBAI: Unilever has appointed Reema Jain as its new chief information officer, signalling a sharper push towards AI-led transformation across the business.
Based in Bengaluru, Jain steps into the role after serving as global vice president digital technology and site lead for Unilever’s global capability center in India. Her appointment marks both a homecoming and a strategic move, placing a seasoned insider at the helm of the company’s global technology agenda.
“Thrilled to step into the role of chief information officer at Unilever,” Jain said in a statement. “This is a powerful moment to accelerate how AI and technology will shape and power our business. I am a true believer that technology can be a powerful force for transformation, for people, for teams, for the way we work and create impact at scale.”
With nearly two decades of experience spanning ERP modernisation, digital supply chains, cloud transformation and enterprise architecture, Jain brings a rare blend of operational rigour and digital ambition.
Before returning to Unilever, she served as chief information and digital officer at Hero MotoCorp, where she spearheaded a sweeping digital overhaul. From building a platform-product structure to launching direct-to-customer plays and a finance aggregator platform, she turned technology into a revenue engine rather than a back-office utility.
She also held the role of chief digital officer at Vodafone Idea Limited, where she helped shape the company’s transition from telco to techco, crafting a digital roadmap designed to unlock new value streams.
Jain’s earlier tenure at Unilever saw her lead digital integration and ERP application management globally, overseeing business-critical SAP systems supporting the company’s multi-billion euro turnover. Her work on API-first platforms and cloud-enabled operating models laid much of the groundwork for the agility the business now seeks to scale with AI.
Her career began at GE, where she rose through roles in oracle technology leadership, operational excellence and lean six sigma, building the foundation of process discipline that continues to underpin her digital transformation philosophy.
Industry observers see her appointment as part of a broader shift across consumer goods companies, where CIOs are no longer simply custodians of systems but architects of intelligence, insight and innovation.
For Unilever, the message is clear. Technology is not just supporting the business. It is shaping it. And with Jain at the controls, the company is betting that AI will move from pilot projects to enterprise-wide impact, faster than ever.
