MAM
Dentsu elevates Ronak Dey to vice-president as ad man clocks 16 years in the trenches
From ITC’s perfume counters to Toyota’s showrooms, a career built brand by brand finally gets its due
BENGALURU: Ronak Dey has been promoted to vice-president at Dentsu India, capping a 16-year run through some of Indian advertising’s most storied shops. The move, announced this week, puts Dey at the helm of the agency’s marquee accounts, a brief that already includes Toyota, Bangalore Airport and Amdocs.
Dey’s rise has been anything but a straight line. He cut his teeth as an article assistant doing management and stock audits at Kedia & Associates before pivoting into advertising proper at Law & Kenneth Saatchi & Saatchi in 2013, where he worked on Barista, McCain and ONGC. Stints followed at Havas Media (Veet, Mortein) and J. Walter Thompson, where he handled The Telegraph, Berger Paints and Spencer’s.
The real building blocks came later. At Rediffusion Brand Solutions he ran Tata Motors and PGIM India Mutual Fund. A brief detour through ITC Limited put him on Engage Fragrances. Then, at MullenLowe Lintas Group, he took charge of Tata Tea, MFine and Ampere EV, a portfolio that would have tested any client servicing head.
Dentsu came calling in 2022. Dey joined as client services director, steering Toyota and Bangalore Airport, before being elevated to associate vice-president in 2024, where his remit widened to include Papa Johns, Orange Healthcare, Khimji Jewellers and Melorra. Three years and a fair few pitches later, the vice-president title has arrived.
In a note marking the promotion, Dey struck a reflective tone, admitting he still gets goosebumps at his desk despite the grind. That sentiment, unfashionable as it may sound in an industry known for cynicism, is arguably why clients keep re-signing him.
Dentsu’s bet on homegrown talent is notable at a time when agency networks in India are under pressure to retain senior client-facing leaders amid holding-company consolidation and fee compression. Promoting from within, rather than poaching, signals a degree of institutional confidence that Dentsu will want to advertise, quite literally, to its clients.
