MAM
Leo Burnett looks to bright future in a new office
MUMBAI: A spectacular new office reflecting Leo Burnett India’s vision. Modern, bigger than what it is today and ready to face the challenges of the future.
That is how Richard Pinder, managing director, Leo Burnett Asia Pacific, and Arvind Sharma, CEO and chairman, Leo Burnett India, described it at the official unveiling on Thursday of the Big Apple, the building, which will house Mumbai operations as well as the corporate office.
Sharma said that he saw consumer finance and biotech as areas where there will be huge potential in the near future as far as Leo Burnett was concerned.
Among the current clients, Coke’s hot beverages subsidiary Georgia had massive expansion plans lined up for the next four years, Sharma said. Tea/coffee vending machines covering the whole country, 500,000 in all was what was being planned, he added.
India, China and Vietnam are the three key markets where Leo Burnett sees maximum potential as far as the Asia-Pacific was concerned, Pinder said. Referring to India, Pinder said that it currently contributed 10 per cent ($70 million) of the $700 million worth of business that the Asia Pacific generated for Leo Burnett. That’s just 1 per cent of the global business though.
There are three core focus areas Sharma said would guide Leo Burnett’s future plans – creativity, diversification of services and sourcing synergies of all the interconnected businesses.
Talking about the new office, Sharma said: “We wanted it to combine the functional and aesthetic sensibilities that the best of advertising embodies. We wanted a place where our employees will enjoy coming to every morning and that our clients will be delighted to visit. The space, transparency and vibrant colours, symbolise the Leo Burnett culture of a stimulating and warm organisation, of a very human employer.”
Anticipating the ever-changing and ever-diversifying needs for services, the office infrastructure is completely flexible, allowing for swift change, adding of new competencies and departments. Besides, it is completely open, without any walls or boundaries, without rooms or cabins, which allows people to freely interact.
“Gone are the days when creating ads was a sequential process and when creative, account management, planning and media existed as separate silos,” Sharma said. “Ads are now about breakthrough ideas that can be executed across a variety of media. This is why we made sure that employees from each department are able to share ideas and brainstorm together. And while organisations are always hierarchical, here we have removed all the visible boundaries and layers to create an open,free atmosphere where everybody’s voice will be heard.”
MAM
Time brings TIME100 Next franchise to India with Reliance
List to spotlight 100 emerging leaders, gala set for December 2026 in Mumbai.
MUMBAI: It’s about time India’s next wave got a global spotlight and now, it’s on the list. New York-headquartered Time is expanding its TIME100 Next franchise to India, partnering with Reliance Industries Limited to launch TIME100 Next India, its first international extension of the rising leaders platform. The announcement was made at the Time100 Gala in New York by Jessica Sibley and Nita Mukesh Ambani, signalling a strategic push to tap into India’s growing influence across sectors.
The India edition will recognise 100 emerging leaders from the country and the global Indian diaspora, spanning business, science, sports, arts and social impact. The list will be curated by Time’s editorial team and published online, continuing the franchise’s focus on identifying individuals shaping the future.
The initiative will culminate in a gala event scheduled for December 2026 at the Nita Mukesh Ambani Cultural Centre, anchoring the platform within India’s cultural and business ecosystem.
TIME’s broader Time100 franchise has steadily expanded its global footprint since 2021 through events and impact-led initiatives. Executives noted that India’s growing pool of influential voices and innovators made it a natural next step for the platform’s international ambitions.
For Reliance, the partnership aligns with its broader push to support emerging talent and ideas on a global stage. For Time, it marks a timely bet on India not just as a market, but as a talent engine shaping the next chapter of global leadership.
