MAM
Dheeraj Sinha steps down as Leo Burnett South Asia co-chief executive and BBH India chairman
Mumbai: Publicis Groupe India has announced that Dheeraj Sinha, will be stepping down from his roles of Leo Burnett South Asia co-chief executive and BBH India chairman. After a successful seven years with the Groupe, Sinha is exploring other opportunities. He will be with the Groupe till the end of October and in the coming months, will continue working closely with Rajdeepak Das who leads Leo Burnett India as co-CEO, in addition to holding the position of chair, of the Publicis Groupe South Asia Creative Council.
Sinha joined the Groupe as chief strategy officer of Leo Burnett India, and has played multiple roles within the Groupe – from leading strategy to leading Leo Burnett as chief executive officer in partnership with Rajdeepak Das. Under their leadership, Leo Burnett India has grown tremendously with some of the best and most reputed clients entrusting the agency with their business. It is also home to some of the best talent, strong culture, and most awards across domestic, regional, and global levels. As chairman of BBH, Sinha has played a pivotal role in strengthening BBH with the new leadership of Himanshu Saxena and Parixit Bhattacharya, a growing roster of top clients, and continuing with the unmatched creative pedigree.
Publicis Groupe CEO South Asia Anupriya Acharya said, “ Thanks to Dheeraj’s leadership, Leo Burnett India is one of the most dynamic agencies and at the very top today. It is a powerhouse of creativity, talent, and pathbreaking advertising that solves for clients’ biggest challenges and unlocks growth while BBH India has been refreshed and put on a firm growth trajectory. After seven years with the company, Dheeraj would like to embark on a new challenge. I thank him for his energy and contribution and wish him the very best in his future endeavours. He will be missed! We will build further on the solid foundation that has been put in place.”
Sinha said, “It’s been a dream run for me at the Publicis Groupe for the last 7 years. Together, we built Leo Burnett to be the No.1 agency in India and No.2 in Asia. I always dreamt of building a large, successful organisation where people came together do the best work of their lifetime. I think we got that feeling on our floors. We won more awards than we could celebrate, we won the biggest pitches, and served the best coffee in town. BBH, Publicis Business and Publicis Health reverbed with the same winning energy. In Raj, I found a partnership that’s forever. Thanks to Anupriya for all her support, my leadership team, all the client partners and everyone in the agencies who walked in everyday to be the best in the world, bar none! I leave with a heavy heart but great confidence that this transformation is forever. I’ll always be cheering for my people who turned me into a leader!”
Das said, “In partnership with Dheeraj, we have built iconic agency brands that stand for modern purposeful advertising and taken Leo Burnett to the top position. I have really enjoyed my time with Dheeraj who’s dynamic, enterprising, and full of ideas. I wish him nothing but the best for his future endeavours. And hope to build further on the success of our creative agency brands, continuing our new business momentum and carrying on our rich legacy of inspiring, uplifting, very human creative work.”
AD Agencies
Omnicom Advertising Asia assembles new regional leadership team
The group is betting that a blend of creative talent, cultural intelligence and AI-driven data can help brands stay relevant in the world’s most complex marketing region.
Asia has long been the market that humbles the overconfident. Omnicom Advertising Asia is determined not to be among them.
The group announced on Monday the formation of a new regional leadership team of six senior executives, reporting to Sean Donovan, president of OA Asia. The structure is designed to help brands navigate a fragmented, fast-moving consumer landscape and build what Donovan calls “long-term cultural relevance” — the kind that survives a news cycle, a platform shift and an algorithm update.
The team
The six appointments span creativity, innovation, strategy, intelligence, business development and marketing, covering the full arc from brand idea to commercial outcome.
Peter Khoury takes on the role of chief creative officer for OA Asia, Melissa Daniels becomes chief innovation officer, and Emmanuel Sabbagh steps up as chief strategy officer. All three take on expanded regional responsibilities while retaining their leadership positions at TBWA\Singapore.
Andreas Krasser broadens his remit to chief client partner for OA Asia, continuing simultaneously as chief executive of OA Hong Kong. Ellie Brocklehurst joins as chief growth and marketing officer, drawing on her previous stint as chief marketing officer for Asia at TBWA. Rounding out the team is S. Subramanyeswar, known in the industry as Subbu, who was appointed chief knowledge officer for OA Asia alongside his role as chief strategy officer of OA India, a position that followed the close of Omnicom’s acquisition of IPG.The pitch
The team will work in close collaboration with leadership across TBWA, McCann and BBDO throughout the OA Asia network, with a brief to cut through the noise of today’s consumer landscape and deliver creative solutions that, in the group’s framing, prove short-term performance while building long-term brand health.
Underpinning the new structure is OMNI, Omnicom’s AI-driven marketing intelligence platform. The platform draws cultural intelligence from across the group’s agency brands, with the stated aim of ensuring that data is not merely accurate but grounded in context — reflecting how people actually think, feel and behave, rather than how a spreadsheet might prefer them to.
Donovan frames the proposition in straightforward terms. “Asia is one of the most complex regions for marketers, but the opportunity here is immense,” he says. “We’ve built a team that simplifies the landscape, combining top talent with an Asia-first, future-focused mindset, and unprecedented access to resources.” The model, he adds, is designed to be plug-and-play, responding to client needs in collaboration with agencies and markets across the region. “More than expertise, it’s about giving clients the perspective, ambition and access to think beyond the next campaign.”
The new structure also strengthens connections across the broader Omnicom family, including its media, production and PR operations — a post-acquisition suite of capabilities that the group is evidently keen to deploy as a single, coherent offering.
In a region where consumer attention is fractured across dozens of platforms, languages and cultures, the real test will not be the org chart. It will be whether six smart people with the right tools can actually make brands matter. Omnicom is putting its money on yes.
