India – Independent creative company Wieden+Kennedy (W+K) has appointed Ayesha Ghosh, former CEO at Taproot Dentsu, to be its new managing director for India. She, who will be based in Mumbai, will partner with Santosh Padhi, CCO of Wieden+Kennedy India.
In her new role, Ghosh will be joining Padhi in building out an expanded leadership, talent, and client roster for W+K to create transformative work for local and global brands.
Aside from her previous role Taproot Dentsu, Ghosh was part of the leadership team for Contract Advertising for over a decade, helping build and grow the agency’s presence. Prior to Contract Advertising, she has also held permanent positions in a number of industry shops including Grey Worldwide, Trikaya Grey, and PSL McCann Erickson.
The company said that the current W+K Delhi’s managing director, Gau Narayanan, will be leaving India and W+K to return home to the United Kingdom. Narayanan will be staying on in his current role to help with the transition through August.
Commenting on her new appointment, Ghosh said, “It’s astonishing how W+K consistently produces off-the-charts work, across the world. I hope to absorb some of that genius and with the help of a talented team in India and an ace like Paddy, create some genius of our own. With scattered attention, infinite distractions, only work that is honest and primal, will win for brands. And that’s what we mean to do.”
Meanwhile, Padhi commented that he is glad Ghosh is joining them to be part of this wonderful journey, as she is absolutely blunt and honest when it comes to work, which is extremely important these days for their business.
“Clients too prefer to have conversations that cut to the chase. Ayesha and I have worked closely together for a good number of years at Taproot, we understand and complement each other. An organization is known by the kind of people that work for it and both of us will be focusing on putting together a crazy, talented bunch of people, across departments. And we believe that magic will follow,” he said.
Neal Arthur, global CEO at Wieden+Kennedy, said, “Ayesha’s first day is a great day for W+K. W+K India has big things ahead. Their collective creative ambition, optimism and connection to both local and global culture will no doubt usher in the next wave of transformation for the brands they work with. We are excited and grateful to have Ayesha with us.”
