KV Sridhar, chief creative officer of Leo Burnett India quits

MUMBAI: KV Sridhar, chief creative officer of Leo Burnett India, has decided to move on after 17 years with the agency. ET had reported on March 25, 2014 that he may quit the agency. On Thursday, Leo Burnett announced his departure from the agency “to pursue other interest”. When contacted, Saurabh Varma, CEO, Leo Burnett Group India, declined to comment on who will replace Sridhar.
But highly-placed sources in the agency said that Vijay Sawant and Manoj Shetty, who recently resigned from Ogilvy & Mather where they were both group creative directors are set to join Leo Burnett soon. Nitesh Tiwari, currently chief creative officer at Leo Burnett remains at the agency.

Sridhar, known as Pops by most of his colleagues in the ad industry, recently joined the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP). He started his career as a Bollywood billboard painter, but over 17 years at Leo Burnett, has taken the agency up the creative ranks — including making it one of the Top 20 creative agencies in the world, according to Creativity Magazine. Sridhar has also represented the agency on many Indian and global award juries.

Varma said, “Pops has always been a young man at heart and once again his nomadic spirit has led him to look at things afresh and follow his heart to pursue new adventures. We want to thank him for his tremendous contribution over the years, building Leo Burnett India into the creative powerhouse it is today. ”

When contacted, Sridhar, said, “It has been a purposeful journey for me at Leo Burnett, growing with and having a chance to play a key role in shaping the agency’s creative prowess. I have had the opportunity to work with and get to be friends with some of the brightest creative minds in the world, worked on some of the most exciting campaigns with some of the most amazing clients.”