Shantanu Mukherji joins Dentsu Creative Impact as ECD

Mukherji will work with the leadership team on brands such as Maruti, Tetrapak and Max India. He moves in from JWT, Delhi where he was vice-president and senior creative director.

The Dentsu India Group, in continuation of its trend of senior level appointments throughout this year, has taken on board Shantanu Mukherji as executive creative director for Dentsu Creative Impact, the third full-fledged advertising agency of the Dentsu network in India.

As a part of his new mandate, Mukherji will partner with the leadership team at Dentsu Creative Impact on brands such as Maruti, Tetrapak and Max India. He will also partner Soumitra Karnik, national creative director, Dentsu India Group on select projects.

Mukherji moves into team Dentsu from JWT, Delhi where he was working as vice-president and senior creative director. He led art for JWT's client, Airtel.

Mukherji says, "My decision to move to Dentsu after a long tenure in JWT has been dictated by my desire to be part of a 'big' growth story. When I joined JWT, it was on a spin, with almost each morning bringing with it the prospect of working on exciting brands and path-breaking briefs. I can see Dentsu embarking on such an exciting path already and I couldn't have missed being a part of that action. I am really looking forward to it."

A graduate from Delhi College of Arts, Mukherji started his journey in advertising at Tara Sinha - McCann Erickson as a junior visualiser, working on brands such as Nestle, Reckitt, Taj Hotels and Gillette. In 1993, he moved to HTA (Hindustan Thompson Associates, which became JWT in 2002) as art director. Over his 19 years with JWT, Mukherji grew from art director to a creative head, responsible for a key portfolio in JWT.

It may be recalled that in January, the Dentsu India Group appointed C P Arora as group chief financial officer, and Suprotim Day as chief films officer for Dentsu India. In May, Dentsu Communications appointed Arijit Ray as chief executive officer.