Newsmaker: RajDeepak Das’ new journey to fill KV Sridhar’s shoes at Leo Burnett India

In April this year RajDeepak Das was named the chief creative officer of Leo Burnett India, replacing one of the legends of Indian advertising, KV Sridhar (aka Pops), who had announced his resignation from the network after 17 years and joined SapientNitro.

Das moved from the ECD role at BBDO Mumbai, a position he had held for five and half years. Under his leadership BBDO Mumbai moved from working out of coffee shops to became one of the top 10 most creative agencies in the region.

Before coming to Mumbai, Das worked for four years at BBDO Bangkok under the leadership of one of Thailand’s most respected ECDs Suthisak Sucharittanonta.

Apart from winning Asia’s only Cannes Creative Effectiveness Lion. Das has also won more than 150 metals at Cannes, One Show, D&AD, Clio, Spikes Asia, Effies, Asian Marketing effectiveness award and many more regional and global award shows. As CCO for Leo Burnett’s India operations Das oversees the creative output of the Mumbai, New Delhi, Bangalore and Chennai agencies.

Das said he has always believed that Advertising has the power to change people’s lives and he found Leo Burnett’s “Humankind” philosophy to be the perfect match for him.

The initial offer to join Leo Burnett came over three double-shot cappuccinos with Saurabh Verma, the chief executive officer of Leo Burnett Group India. Then chatting with Jarek Ziebinski (President, Leo Burnett Asia Pacific) and hours of calls with Mark Tutssel, the chief creative officer of Leo Burnett Worldwide, including meeting him in Chicago and exchanging ideas and visions saw Das come on board as KV Sridhar’s replacement.

At the time of his appointment Tutssel said Das, with his proven track record behind world-class, award-winning work for global brands including P&G, Pepsi, Visa, Pizza Hut and Tesco among others is a new breed of creative, modern-day leader, a holistic thinker with sharp business acumen.

“Raj brings with him an exuberant amount of global experience, creativity, focus and best-in-class leadership,” said Tutssel (pictured right).

“He understands today’s creative landscape is always-on and always integrated. The decision to bring Raj on board as our CCO holds immense promise for our clients and our creative product. I strongly believe that Raj, alongside Saurabh will form a perfect unity of creative and strategy, making the agency, one of India’s leading creative agencies today, the best integrated agency in the region going forward.”

Here, in one of our regular “Newsmaker” columns, Campaign Brief Asia gets to know Das better.

In terms of creative output Leo Burnett India has always been a good performer at award shows – Is there room for improvement and which offices do you think this will come from?

If you see Leo Burnett’s work for the last couple of years like “Earth Hour”, “Samsung maestro project”, “Always Like a girl”, “My blood is red and black”, “Bundaberg Watermark”, “If only for a second” and many more you will see a pattern of people and purpose.

With bench marks so high, we have miles to go. Leo Burnett India has a list of great brands. I see an opportunity in each one of them to create more integrated and purposeful communication.  

Of course winning is important, but what is more important is “What we are winning for”. Every office under Leo group in India has its own strengths. The plan is to utilise the best of each and I can bet, we will be able to win across offices.

You’ve had around a decade at BBDO offices. What are you most proud of in your time there?

BBDO was like university for me. Working with guys like David Lubars, Chris Thomas, Danny Higgins, Suthisak, Josy Paul every moment was learning.

The proud moment would be the day we made BBDO Mumbai one of the most awarded and creative agencies of AsiaPac region. That too within the first 2 years of it’s existence. Which also includes winning Asia’s only Black Cannes lion for creative effectiveness.

You worked in Bangkok at BBDO which was very hot creatively. This must have been an exciting time for you? did the language barrier present problems?

Suthisak of BBDO Bangkok is one of my mentors. I almost kidnapped him to get the job.

Suthisak (left) branded me as “New world”. Because of which I could do anything and everything and get away with it too. So we managed to do some really cool stuff. Right from ‘Begging project’ to HomePro to Citibank we experimented and made mundane stuff fun. Language was never a barrier for me, I played “dumb charades” and got my way around.

Is there a big difference between working in the Thai market and the Indian market?

Thai market is ‘sanook’ and light hearted. Indian is intense, massive and you are communicating to almost a billion and half people. I love the scale of the Indian market.

What did you do before getting into advertising?

Come-on I was a teenager. I was more worried about my voice and pimples..

How did you first get into advertising as a career?

I had a management degree so no agency wanted to hire me as an Art director. I would stand below agencies to catch people who look creative and chat up with them about how to get in.

What was your first big break in advertising?

I think the day Neil Flory (my first boss) after a 3 minute interview said, “Welcome to advertising”.

What is your career highlight to date?

Yet to come

What are your two favourite ads/campaigns that you have been involved with?

I think “Gillete ShaveSutra” and HomePro’s “Any one can sell”. I just had a blast working on them.

ShaveSutra took eight months from end to end. Thanks to good brave clients, a great director friend and possessed team of mine. HomePro was playing the game by the book, 20 seconds, four products and we had to tell their prices but in an entertaining way.

Is there an ad that makes you green with envy?

There are many, at least five or six every year. But if I need to choose one then it’s going to be “Unicef tap water project”.

Do you have a ‘worst mistake’ or a most embarrassing moment in your advertising career to date?

I was enacting a hip-hop artist in a script presentation, so I had to pull my pants down. But I pulled them so low that they fell down. Thank god there were no phone cameras at the time.

Is there a person you have enjoyed working with the most?

Thanonchai of Phenomena (left). His energy and humor is infectious.

Who
is the most interesting, or most inspiring, or funniest person you have ever met or worked with?

Eric Silver. He is funny like hell.  

What’s your favourite leisure activity outside of advertising?

Sitting in coffee shops and chatting with strangers. And once in a year I backpack to new places to cook with locals.

Favourite holiday destination?

Paris and San Francisco.

Favourite hotel?

Uma by Como, Bali

The Standard High Line, New York

Tell me something about yourself that not many people would know.

I can catch a giant cat fish with a safety pin.

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Rahul Mathew – DDB Mudra West, India

Rob Sherlock – ADK

Masako Okamura – Dentsu Vietnam