“We need to look at the best way we can collaborate with partners here”: Rohit Ohri, Dentsu India Group

We caught up with Rohit Ohri, the new executive chairman of Dentsu India Group, on a recent visit to Mumbai.

Some of the questions we asked him were about his first few steps in the agency since taking charge, and the difference in agency culture from JWT.

Talking about Dentsu’s entrepreneurial approach in India, Ohri said, “Fundamentally, the mentality of the large agency is to see how much can one build in-house. However, we think one of the ways to reconstruct the business and scale up quickly here would be to look at the best way to collaborate with many strategic partners – whether it’s design expertise, or digital expertise and so on.”

Commenting on his three priority areas for Dentsu India Group, he said, “One would be the focus on the creative work. The other priority is around digital and what we will actually offer clients in the digital space, leveraging our knowledge from Dentsu in Japan. The third priority is really to strengthen Dentsu Media.”

The good news is there is no hiring freeze at Dentsu, as of right now. Ohri said, “Yes, we are recruiting and over the next two-three weeks, you’re going to see some big announcements. In the next week, we’ll be announcing ten new appointments for senior level positions.”