Wieden+Kennedy appoints Santosh Padhi as CCO

Wieden+Kennedy has announced the appointment of Santosh Padhi as chief creative officer in India.

 

The agency has expanded into Mumbai, its second office location in India. Wieden+Kennedy had launched its Delhi office in 2007. Padhi will lead the agency's expansion into Mumbai.

 

Dean Wei, who joined the agency in 2019 as executive creative director, is leaving the agency later this year to return to London.

 

Padhi moves from Taproot Dentsu where he was chief creative officer and co-founder. He had founded Taproot in 2009 along with Agnello Dias, which was acquired by Dentsu in 2012.

 

Padhi said, “W+K have always raised the creative product of our industry for the last three to four decades, they were one of my inspirations when Taproot was set up. I have always believed creativity is the core of our business - W+K has proven that consistently with fearless creative work on a variety of brands."

 

He added, "I'm very excited, it’s a great opportunity for me to take this vibrant legacy brand forward and build the next chapter of creative excellence out of India. In a business like ours you are as good as the kind of people you have on board - there are some wonderful minds in Delhi and I'm once again fortunate to hand pick some more wonderful people to join us and expand our presence into Mumbai.”

 

Karl Lieberman, global CCO, Wieden+Kennedy, said, "Paddy is a transformative creative leader with an impressive track record building creative companies and brands, and making work that is really centered in culture. We feel lucky to have him join us at a time when we really want to connect further to the creative people and culture in India. We are excited about the future of Wieden+Kennedy in India."