By Our Staff

If you remember, Dentsu, the advertising and marketing services network, had a series of exits. Topping it all was the exit of big boss Ashish Bhasin. And then started a massive hunt for a CEO. Almost every biggie in the business was met with.

When they couldn’t find anyone, they called in old warhorse Sunil Lulla to stand in.  Lulla had just moved out of BARC and was busy growing his own consulting gigs. But that was till December.

And yesterday (Thursday), Dentsu Asia Pacific announced the appointment of Harsha Razdan as CEO, South Asia. This is effective May 1, 2023. So we will see him at Goafest 2023.

Said Rob Gilby, CEO APAC, Dentsu: “India has been through the most profound and impressive digital transformation and the future of the digital economy is bright; with new opportunities being generated by the advent of 5G, proliferation of affordable devices, and the development of a new economy accessible to all,” adding: “Harsha is an exceptional leader with a deep strategic understanding of the competitive landscape. His background in brand building, overlayed with deep knowledge of tech-driven transformation brings formidable cross-capability expertise and will drive growth opportunities in creating a new value ecosystem for clients with consumers at the centre.”

Added Razdan on his appointment: “It is a very exciting time to be leading an agency network in India, especially with the significant progress we are seeing in the digital development of our market and what that means for brands. India is leap-frogging other markets in its adoption and development of new technologies, and it’s critical that agencies are capitalising on new opportunities for brands to speak to new consumers. I can’t wait to get started.”

Razdan has worked with PepsiCo and Unilever, and consulting practices including Accenture where he spent four years in the UK. He joins Dentsu from KPMG where he is a Senior Partner, responsible for overseeing both Clients & Markets and Consumer Markets, Life Sciences & Internet Business. He also sits on the Advisory Leadership team as well as the Global Consumer & Retail leadership team.  He will be based in Mumbai reporting to Rob Gilby, CEO APAC, dentsu.