MAM
Jitender Dabas to exit Cheil X, join Omnicom as BBDO group CEO
Cheil X chief moves to Omnicom to steer BBDO’s creative and growth agenda
MUMBAI: Omnicom Advertising India is set to appoint industry veteran Jitender Dabas as chief executive officer of the BBDO Group, bringing one of the country’s most respected strategy minds into the global network’s top India role.
Dabas currently serves as chief executive officer at Cheil X, a position he took up in May 2025 after more than 14 years at McCann Worldgroup. His move to Omnicom signals another high-profile leadership shift across India’s advertising networks, as agencies sharpen their creative and data-led offerings.
At McCann, Dabas rose through the ranks to become chief operating officer and chief strategy officer for India, a role he held from 2020 to 2025. Before that, he served as chief strategy officer and earlier as executive vice president and head of strategy, shaping brand and business narratives for a wide roster of clients.
His career in planning spans more than two decades, with stints at JWT, Grey Worldwide and Draft FCB Ulka. Across these roles, he built a reputation for blending cultural insight with sharp brand thinking, earning industry recognition and awards along the way.
An alumnus of the Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi, where he completed a B.Tech, Dabas is known in the industry for his distinctive voice on creativity, effectiveness and the evolving role of advertising.
At Omnicom, he is expected to lead the BBDO Group’s next phase of growth, with a focus on creative strength, integrated capabilities and closer alignment with client business outcomes.
Brands
Marico names Ankit Porwal CEO for beauty and digital
Former L’Oréal leader to steer styling portfolio and power data-led growth
MUMBAI: Marico has brought in a seasoned beauty and e-commerce hand to sharpen its digital edge. The company has appointed Ankit Porwal as chief executive officer for beauty and styling in its digital business, tasking him with leading the portfolio while accelerating online and data-driven growth.
In his new role, Porwal will oversee Marico’s beauty and styling brands and drive the company’s push across digital commerce and omnichannel platforms. The mandate is clear: build stronger online visibility, harness data more intelligently, and turn clicks into consistent growth.
He joins from L’Oréal, where he spent more than thirteen years in a series of regional leadership roles across Asia and the Middle East. Most recently, he served as regional director and general manager for e-commerce and marketing transformation for the Sapmena region, where he focused on building large-scale digital, content and data transformation engines.
Before that, Porwal led the consumer products division as general manager for the Malaysia and Singapore cluster and earlier headed e-commerce for the South East Asia, India, Pacific, Middle East and North Africa region. His work spanned building digital infrastructure, expanding online penetration and leading cross-functional teams across sales, marketing, finance and supply chain.
His L’Oréal stint also included regional marketing leadership for Garnier across India and South East Asia, as well as senior marketing roles in Indonesia and India. Prior to L’Oréal, Porwal built his early career at Colgate-Palmolive and Wipro Consumer Care and Lighting, moving through sales and marketing roles across India and Thailand.
With this appointment, Marico is betting on deep beauty expertise and digital fluency to style its next phase of growth. For Porwal, it is a homecoming of sorts, back to the Indian consumer market, this time with a mandate to blend beauty, data and digital into a sharper growth formula.
