In the newest appointment at the Dentsu India Group, Soumitra Karnik has been given the mandate of national creative director.
Karnik joins Dentsu India from his creative consultancy company. Prior to that he was with JWT, Delhi where he was executive creative director. At JWT, Karnik worked on brands like PepsiCo, Nestle, Hero Honda, Sony, GSK, Congress and Airtel.
On Karnik's move to Dentsu, Rohit Ohri, executive chairman, Dentsu India said, “Soumitra is a truly gifted creative and great leader. He will partner the creative leaders at Dentsu India and me to take our creative product to the next level. Soumitra believes in integrated communication solutions and as a key member of the India leadership team, I see him helping us effectively deliver this core Dentsu belief to our clients.”
Commenting on his new role, Karnik said, “As far as my role is concerned, my first priority shall be to build a solid network of talented creative teams across Dentsu companies and to create a ‘boredom-less’ and fearless creative culture. I will also partner our clients in developing thought leadership and strategic superiority in their respective markets by the process of collaboration and co-creation.”
He added, “We have pressed the ‘Refresh’ button at Dentsu and are pretty serious about being the very best, both for our clients as well as our own people. We want to be known as a place with a large heart where people with great minds work. And I can certainly promise a lot of action around us in the coming times.”
Karnik started his career in 1991 with an agency called Pace. From there he moved to Percept in 1993 as creative group head, from where he moved to a boutique agency Rightangle in 1995. After a two-year stint at Rightangle, he joined Lintas in 1997 as associate creative director, and worked with the agency till 2000. Next, he moved to JWT as creative director, and was later promoted as executive creative director and vice-president.
