MullenLowe Group on Monday announced the appointment of S.Subramanyeswar, aka Subbu, as the group chief executive officer of MullenLowe Lintas Group India, effective immediately. He replaces Virat Tandon who has quit. The agency, in a statement, says that Amer Jaleel, group chief creative officer and chairman with MullenLowe Lintas Group is also moving on from the agency.
Calling it a strategic re-alignment from the previous model, the agency says that now all the functions of the Group will now report to Subbu. In addition, Subbu will continue to directly lead the strategy function for the Group in India and maintain his role as chief strategy officer for the MullenLowe APAC region.
Alex Leikikh, chairman of MullenLowe Group and executive vice president of Interpublic Group, says, “During these transformative times where we are all facing many challenges, I believe, there is no better person to lead MullenLowe Lintas Group than Subbu. He is a proven leader with hard-core strategic skills, business imagination and the ability to bring people together. Subbu has a global perspective on how brands, communication and technology will intersect in the future. He’s also a big believer in brand purpose. This combination is exactly what we need as the company enters the next chapter.”
Leikikh also thanked Amer Jaleel and Virat Tandon “for their dedication, passion and leadership throughout the years for us and all of our clients. I wish them the best in their next endeavours.”
On his new role, Subbu says, “Lintas is one of those extraordinary institutions to have truly impacted Indian society for decades through big, bold, culture-leading ideas based on a decisive stand taken by the brand. I couldn’t be more honoured to have been given the charge to lead the company at a very important time. A big part of my job is to widen our creative and strategic aperture to innovatively apply technology and talent to solve new problems for clients, for people, and the world at large. I’m excited, grounded on the challenges, and upbeat, all at once.”
Subbu had joined the agency in 2011 and has been a part of it since then. Most recently, Subbu authored ‘Brands to Stands,’ a book that celebrates the authentic and highly captivating stories of how over 25 of India’s leading brands have created brand marketing history by adopting a point of view, taking a stand, and spearheading purposeful action.
In addition, the statement says that Subbu won 142 awards at India Effies, APAC Effies, Global Effies, Asian Marketing Effectiveness, WARC and by 4A’s – American Association of Advertising Agencies. He has also been Jury Chair at Jay Chiat Awards for Strategic Excellence in 2021 and 2022 and judged the coveted IPA Effectiveness Awards 2022 in UK.
A regular columnist and passionate educationalist, he is also a visiting faculty at IIMs across India and delivered several talks at the distinguished Kellogg School of Management, MIT Sloan, and leading global business forums like SXSW, Austin and IPA Effworks in London.
He has spent two-and-a-half decades in advertising and marketing, having worked at Wipro, Publicis, Rediffusion Y&R, and Saatchi & Saatchi in the markets of India, US and UK.