Dheeraj Sinha Email & Phone Number

Mumbai, Mh, In

Paris, Ile De France, Fr

Dheeraj set the vision for Leo Burnett to be India’s No.1 new-age agency in 2018. By 2023, Leo Burnett transitioned from being a mid-tier agency to a top-tier agency. It had almost doubled its revenue and 30% of its revenue came from new-age clients. In 2023, Leo Burnett was India’s No.1 agency at Cannes Lions, One Show, AdFest, D&Ad and APAC Effies. It was also No.2 in Asia at Cannes Lions and APAC Effies. The hockey curve started with 2022, which turned out to be a hattrick year – began with the Creative Agency of the Year Award at the One-Show Abby awards at the GoaFest, followed by the Grand Prix for Sustainable Development Goals at Cannes Lions 2022 for the work on P&G Whisper and completed the hattrick by signing up the entire portfolio of 15+ brands of PepsiCo India, across creative and digital - the largest-ever new business win in the Indian advertising industry. During this period, Dheeraj led the agenda of transformation of all the 5 agencies to be new-age agencies. Consolidating Leo Burnett’s position as a top tier agency in India – creating new-age work for its spectacular set of clients. Building BBH to be amongst the top two offices globally, in the BBH network. Preparing Publicis Business and Publicis Health to take leadership positions in their categories. Practicing democratised leadership, a lean-forward and proactive approach to client management, pushing for talent transformation to new-age and digital. Building a new-age culture, with values such as openness, camaraderie, resilience and swagger.Dheeraj led an aggressive charge on acquiring new businesses, across all the five agency brands, adding several new clients such as Spotify, PepsiCo, Airtel, PhonePe, Meta, Visa, LinkedIn, Adidas, Colors, Anchor Panasonic, Apollo Health, Roposo, Bajaj Electricals and many others, while strengthening the relationships with current clients such as HDFC Bank, HDFC Life, P&G, GSK, Jeep, Reliance Retail, Beam Suntory, Redbull and others.

Chicago, Illinois, Us

Leading the transformation of Leo Burnett, Publicis Business & Publicis Health to new-age companies. Building a culture of deep collaboration, excellence and meritocracy. Using new materials – data, technology, creativity to solve real problems. Launched and set-up for success – Leo Burnett Digital, Leo Burnett Consult, Leo Burnett Design and Leo Burnett Regional. Transforming the talent mix through training and acquisition. Added more than 100 new clients/projects over the last 4 years, most of them from the new-economy, many of them without a pitch. Led the teams to bring home – Grand Prix – Spikes Asia, Fast Company’s Top 20 World Changing Ideas, Most Awarded Indian Agency at APAC Effies & AdFest, Top 5 in Publics Groupe’s Global Cannes-Do Awards.

Chicago, Illinois, Us

Set up the agenda for Leo Burnett to be the no.1 new-age agency in the country. Built the strategy to get there – including an ambitious talent transformation plan. Defined the quintessential Leo Burnett talent as the Mutant-DNAs, started an ambitious campus hiring program from the best colleges of the country. Worked with lagging business units to set up trackers for new business and cross-selling, helping them transform their business performance. Strategically, shifted the client-mix to new age, new-economy clients. Added more than 38 new clients/projects (including Spotify, Airtel, PhonePe, Acko, Ola, Spice Jet) leading to a strong and profitable growth. During this period, Leo Burnett jumped 3 notches up on the top agency ranking by Economic Times Brand Equity, was Leo Burnett’s Global Agency of the Year, won Gold at Cannes Lions Effectiveness and was top 3 at India Effies.

Chicago, Illinois, Us

Championed the culture of strategy at Leo Burnett, South Asia. Built strong strategy teams across offices. Promoted thought leadership and effectiveness as tenets of good strategy. Fostered collaboration and a feeling of community amongst strategists across offices and departments. Helped brands find their purpose. Led new business initiatives across offices. Championed the culture effectiveness - winning at APAC EFFIES, India Effies (including a Grand Effie) and WARC Strategy Prize for brands such as Amazon, Bajaj V, HDFC Life and others.

New York, Ny, Us

Fostered the culture of strategy at Grey APAC. Built and led the team of planners across offices in India, South and South East Asia. Led and won large regional new business pitches such as Maybank and Telecom Malaysia. Led the thought leadership and effectiveness agenda across the region - winning Atticus Award for best published thinking in WPP and Effies for brands such as Sensodyne, Killer Jeans and many others. Worked with key clients across the region to deliver work that’s Famous & Effective - Maybank across markets in Asia, Grameenphone in Bangladesh, A-Mild in Indonesia, GSK (Sensodyne), Kinder Joy, TicTac, Ferrero Rocher, Reliance Telecom and others in India. Wrote my second book, India Reloaded - India's Resurgent Consumer Market, published by Palgrave Macmillan globally and Westland in India.

My

Led the repositioning of the Bates141 network to Bates. Developed the philosophy of ChangeEngage, created the strategy toolkit and led workshops across markets in Asia, including China, Taiwan, Indonesia, Singapore and India to rollout the new philosophy and the thinking framework. Worked with the regional leadership to deliver the business and the brand ambitions of the bates network. Worked closely with the country-heads on new business and brand opportunities across the region. Built and nurtured the planning community across 14 offices of bates in Asia. Led thought leadership initiatives to bring alive the bates positioning around 'the changengage people'. Led the agency's reputation at creative and effectiveness awards - wining across Effies, AMEs & WARC. In addition to the regional mandate, partnered the India leadership in delivering sparkling strategic and creative product and an ambitious business growth. Led the development of the 5-year plan for Bates in India. Worked closely with key clients in India and led a highly talented team of planners across functions. Wrote my first book, Consumer India - Inside the Indian Mind and Wallet, published by John Wiley & Sons globally.

My

Led the strategic planning discipline for Bates141 group in India. Was responsible for brand thinking on all national businesses, across functions such as advertising, experiential and OOH (Out Of Home). As a part of the national leadership (Executive Committee), was responsible for steering the agency towards growth and glory. As a part of the Regional Strategic Council, was involved in developing and implementing the regional planning agenda and creating best practices. Spoke at Asian Marketing Effectiveness Festival 2010, Shanghai; Presented a paper titled ‘Building Youth Brands In A Youthful Country’ at the Esomar Asia Pacific Conference 2009, Beijing; was on the Programme Committee – Esomar Asia Pacific Conference 2010, Kuala Lumpur. Won the Jay Chiat Planning Award 2009, Bronze Effie 2009, Silver Effie 2008, Silver at Asian Marketing Effectiveness Awards 2009. Was awarded WPP Atticus Award 2008 (Highly Commended) for the best published thinking by a WPP professional. Led insight initiatives on - The Luxury Consumer in India, 20 Changes In India Brochure, Indian Youth – The No-Strings Generation. Key businesses included - Colgate, Virgin Mobile, Fiat, TATA AIG, TVS, Max Bupa, Marico Bangladesh, Pfizer, ICICI Bank, MTV, Park Avenue, Radico Khaitan, ITC Tobacco.

My

Led strategic planning for Mumbai and Kolkatta offices. Fostered a planning culture in the agency and nurtured a fledgling team. Led and won several new business pitches – Colgate, Max Bupa, Marico Corporate, Marico Soaps, AIG, Virgin Mobile, Dabur, Fiat, TVS and others. Co-created market and award winning work on Virgin mobile, Marico Corporate and Fiat. Won India Effies, APAC Effies, Jay Chiat Award and AME award for the work on Virgin Mobile and Marico Corporate. Won WPP Atticus Award 2007 (Market Research & Insights) for the best published thinking by a WPP professional, contested globally. Presented a paper - The Changing Mindset of a Billion Minds at the Esomar Asia Pacific Conference 2007, Kuala Lumpur, which now has a mention in the Frommers’ guide to India. Presented papers - Three Generations, One Big Market – A New Segmentation of India at the Esomar Asia Pacific 2008, Singapore; Marico Uncommonsense – A Case Study’ at the World Effie Festival, Singapore 2008, Creating A Kshatriya Culture At Marico’ at the 6th Asia Pacific ABC Conference organized by the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad, 2006. Led insight initiatives on, The Changing Face of Beauty in India, Money - An Emotional Currency, The New Improved Indian Man – a Cute Warrior, The Changing Role of Entertainment and Media – Reel Meets Reality.Key businesses included, Virgin Mobile, Fiat, AIG, TATA AIG, Marico Soaps & Corporate, Dabur – Oral & Skin care, Ayush (Unilever), Amante (Lingerie), ABP Group and Radio City.

New York, Ny, Us

Led the Strategic Planning function for the Mumbai office. Supported new business initiatives nationally. Successfully led new business pitches on Emirates Airlines and RED FM - leading to the now famous 'bajate raho' positioning for RED FM. Co-championed a study to understand the Remix Generation: A Quantitative Youth Study in India & China conducted in 8 Cities in India and 6 Cities in China with 2000 sample size in each Country. Key businesses included, Emirates, Sony Entertainment Television, SET MAX, HDFC Bank, Globus, Red FM, Reckitt Benkiser, Zandu Chayavanprash.

New York, Ny, Us

Handled surface care brands of Reckitt Benkiser - Harpic, Colin and Lizol in the initial years and moved on to work on MasterCard, LG (Televisions, IT) and Goodyear. Part of new business pitches on LG televisions and washing machines, Aashirwad (ITC), DT Cinemas, TATA CR Steel. Worked with brands across cultures, some of the key involvements included MasterCard in the Middle East & Singapore and Panasonic in Singapore. Sharpened problem-solving skills working on various consultancy projects. The nature of projects varying from doing a cultural audit of a business model (MAX Healthcare) to creating a brand identity for a hot-beverages dispenser brand (Georgia from Coca Cola) to developing a brand architecture and mapping opportunity spaces for TVS Motors.

New York, Ny, Us

Worked on Reckitt Benckiser (Dettol, Harpic, Lizol & Colin), Babool Toothpaste, Panasonic India, ITC Foods (Ashirwaad wheat flour)Developed a keen interest in Mythology and its implications on today. Undertook an insight project into a systemic study of mythology. Toured the Small Town India with a camera, framing insights into pictures. Wrote on the ‘Idea of Music Videos and Their Appeal’, ‘sms – The New Language In-Between, ‘The Cultural Re-Drawing of the World Map’ amongst other subjects.

Worked on Mahindra Tractors as the key account. Pitched and won Pondicherry Tourism, Mahindra British Telecom and other new businesses. Led the creation of first-ever tourism identity and campaign - "Peaceful Pondicherry”.

Post Graduate Diploma In Communications, Communications

Ba (Hons), Economics

Aisce, Sciences

Aisse

Education record