DAN expands Soumitra Karnik's CCO mandate to add Dentsu India

Dentsu Aegis Network has appointed Soumitra Karnik as chief creative officer for Dentsu India. This adds to his mandate as CCO of Dentsu Impact and mcgarrybowen.  

 

Karnik reports to Agnello Dias, creative chairman, DAN India.

 

Dias said, “I have known Soumitra for many years now and he is the sort of guy you could go to war with. Nothing fazes him. I have seen him take on the most absurd challenges with a happy fascination at having found a new puzzle to solve. He has that most rare of attributes in a creative person – his creative stamina, and I am sure he will go on to do more than justice to his new extended role.” 

 

Karnik said, “Keeping the big-sounding designations aside, I am the same hungry and relentless creative person that I have always been. Lately, I find a lot of people from the industry complain about the prevalent diminishing standards and mediocrity everywhere; and while I am certainly not going to deny this, I also believe that the only way out of it is to roll up our sleeves, put our heads down, and get to work. That is exactly what we did when we were giving shape to Dentsu Impact a few years back. We won a lot of good clients and did a lot of good work which won us a battery of awards nationally and internationally. I am fortunate to have worked very closely with some great clients and some amazingly talented team members. Without the support of both, consistently producing good work is just not possible. With the mandate and the freedom to build a strong creative culture at Dentsu India, what I now have is an incredibly exciting challenge and an opportunity – all rolled into one."

 

Narayan Devanathan, chairperson, creative line of business, DAN India, said, “Soumitra and I have been partners in crime for close to nine years now, and I couldn’t be happier to have him now also lead the creative mandate at Dentsu India. Over the years, Dentsu India has grown to be one of the most stable partners any client could ask for. With this solid foundation, I’m sure Soumitra will help the agency scale new heights with a creativity-first approach.”

 

Karnik had joined Dentsu in 2012 from JWT.