Malvika Mehra, chief creative officer of Dentsu India, has decided to move on from the agency. Mehra had joined Dentsu in 2019, prior to which she had founded Tomorrow Creative Lab.
She had moved to Dentsu along with her design offering, which was called Dentsu India Tomorrow Lab. As she exits Dentsu Aegis Network later this month, so will the entity Tomorrow Creative Lab.
She said, "I’d like to thank DAN and Simi (Sabhaney) for the opportunity and whilst it’s undoubtedly been an exciting one year here, I have decided to move on. I believe that the best work comes from agencies with a firm bedrock of a thriving creative culture. In the past year here, that’s been my focus and whilst cultures are not built overnight, despite my short stint here, I’d like to believe that we did cover some distance there. Whether it’s been attracting good talent, winning pitches across our offices. I'm happy that I’m leaving behind a strong second line in creative with Krishna Mani, leading our South operations, thrilled that we’ve recently won some robust businesses despite the lockdown."
She added, "We are finally in a people’s business and what’s been most gratifying for me here is the strong client relationships I’ve managed to build with some of these clients and some of the folks at Dentsu India in a short time. If the farewell notes that I got from some of the kids across account management, HR, film and creative are any indication, I’d like to believe I’ve probably done something right. Am leaving a happy mamma!"
Simi Sabhaney, CEO, Dentsu India, said, "Malvika has decide to move on because she wanted to explore newer avenues. She will be leaving by the middle of this month along with Tomorrow Creative Lab, which was her baby. There is no implication of this movement on any of our clients. We will be announcing senior creative leadership, with a bigger mandate, rather soon. We wish Malvika the very best for her future endeavours."
On her next move Mehra said, "The world as we know it, has changed drastically in the last few months. And with that, so has the brand landscape, be it the business itself or the communication needs around it. As creative folk, I think there can’t be a better time than now to embrace this change and perhaps relook at our roles in helping clients bring alive these brand engagements with a fresher, more relevant lens. With that in mind, I’m exploring some opportunities both, in and outside of advertising, across digital and OTT platforms, design, content and maybe even sitting across the table with the client herself. Who knows! A lot of conversations are admittedly on. You know there’s that famous Chinese saying, ‘May you live in interesting times’? Well, here they are. And I'm excited about what unfolds for me."
Prior to launching Tomorrow Creative Lab, Mehra was NCD at Grey and part of the global creative council.