MUMBAI – The roster of leaders that will be heading Mullen Lintas, the recently launched creative agency of Mullen Lowe Lintas Group from across the city has been named by Amer Jaleel, Chairman and CCO of Mullen Lintas.
“I’m thrilled with the all-star-lineup that Mullen Lintas has been able to assemble in such a short time. With this kind of firepower at the start, this team has the weight-class to rival the biggest and the best. I look forward to cutting our teeth into briefs, and creating some great work together,” said Amer.
Ekta Relan has been appointed Senior VP & Planning Head – National Brands. Based in Mumbai, Ekta’s mandate would include leading the strategic planning function across offices and brands for the agency.
Ekta has spent more than 15 years in the insights and ideas business. Prior to Mullen Lintas, she was with Sapient Nitro Singapore for about 2 years, Unilever (India & Singapore) for 7 years and Lowe Lintas for 5 years. During her career, she has handled a rich portfolio of brands like Fair & Lovely, Pepsodent, Clear, Moet, Lux, Paddle Pop, Health Promotion Board Singapore, Continental foods, MetLife and Eu Yan Sang.
Leading the Creative Art function for Mullen Lintas is Executive Creative Director Garima Khandelwal. Garima would also be based in Mumbai and would drive the creative function on core brands for the agency.
Previously, Garima was the Group Creative Director at Lowe Lintas where she worked for 5 years. She has spent a total of 15 years in advertising and began her career with Ogilvy in Delhi. From there, she briefly migrated to Prague where she worked for Leagas Delaney, on the Skoda account for the European market. Some of the clients that she has been associated with include Suzlon Pals, Tata Tea (Kala Teeka), Axe (Boat Party), Liva, etc.
The business mandate for the Delhi office will be led by Executive Director Syed Amjad Ali. Amjad moves into this role from Lowe Lintas Delhi, where he spent 20 years in multiple business leadership roles managing large client portfolios across product categories.
Amjad has led the business mandate for a host of clients including Maruti Suzuki, Olx, Havells, Micromax, Hero Motors, Dabur, Expedia, LG Electronics, Greenply, Woodland, ABP etc. Under his leadership, brands have benefited through highly effective advertising and won many effectiveness awards.
The business mandate in Mumbai, on the other hand, would be led by Ayyappan Raj who assumes the role of Executive Vice President. With this new role, Ayyappan will be moving to Mumbai from Bangalore, where he was heading a unit for Lowe Lintas.
Ayyappan has spent the last eighteen years in advertising handling business for Chennai and Bangalore markets across a host of agencies including Ogilvy, Lowe Lintas and McCann Erickson. With the ability to break down any complex problem to the simplest solution possible, Ayyappan has offered effective solutions to a host of clients spanning different industries like Automobiles, Personal Care, Food & Beverages, Telecom, Insurance and Technology. Few prominent clients that Ayyappan has worked on include Saint-Gobain, Vodafone, TVS Motors, Britannia, MetLife, Tata Tea, ITC Foods etc.
Meanwhile, Kishore Subramanian, previously the Head of Karishma Lintas, and who is assuming the role of Executive Vice President, will be driving the Bangalore business for Mullen Lintas.
Kishore is a finance professional who accidentally walked into advertising about 19 years ago. After learning the ropes in Grey, he moved on to Lowe Lintas where over a period of twelve years across Mumbai and Bangalore, he worked on exciting brands like Sonata, Tanishq, Fastrack, Kissan, and Britannia both as an account person and a strategic planner. He followed it with a short crash course in Japanese work ethic, cars (Toyota) and culture at Dentsu where he headed the Bangalore operations. From there he moved to JWT, in a strategic planning role, and worked across both the Delhi & Mumbai offices on the GSK and Godrej business.
“This is a dream team to start off with. Between them, they have shaped the biggest and the best brands in the country and internationally. With this formidable team, we offer clients, caliber that is second to none. We can’t wait to get going and showcase our prowess as the new creative startup to watch out for,” shares Virat Tandon, CEO – Mullen Lintas as he welcomes the team on board.
