Leo Burnett promotes Sainath Saraban to NCD

He will oversee the Chennai market and handle key national clients.

Leo Burnett Group India has promoted Sainath Saraban as the National Creative Director (NCD), Leo Burnett India. As part of his new role, Sai (as he is fondly known), will oversee and take care of the Chennai market as well as key national clients. He will continue to be based in Delhi.

"Sai's thorough and in-depth understanding of the target audience coupled with popular culture, comes through clearly in the great work that he creates for our clients. I look forward to seeing him make magic in the Chennai market and on our key national clients," says Saurabh Varma, CEO, Leo Burnett Group. "Sai is definitely one of the most promising talents of Leo Burnett India. We want the greatness to spread to one more office," adds Rajdeepak Das, CCO, Leo Burnett.

Samir Gangahar, executive director, Leo Burnett Delhi notes, "I have seen Sai evolve from a rookie writer to being one of the most prolific creative talents we have in the business today. His creative leadership and ability to address brand issues with effective and popular work has been instrumental in the growth of Leo Burnett in the past few years."

Commenting on his new role Saraban says, "Over the last nine years I have grown with the agency and the agency has grown with me. Now it's time to take my role to the next level. I see challenges and opportunities alike and along with Saurabh and Raj, I look forward to what lies ahead."

Saraban joined Leo Burnett in 2005 and, in just 14 months, was promoted to executive creative director. He began his career with JWT Delhi, where he worked for five years on brands like Boost, Pizza Hut, Hero Cycles and CNBC. This was followed by a brief stint at McCann Erickson, after which he joined JWT Bangalore where he worked on Kingfisher, Red Label Tea, McDowell's and was a part of the team that won Levi's and Nike. At Leo Burnett, Delhi, memorable work that Saraban has created are on brands such as Thums Up, Maaza, Minute Maid, Perfetti and Samsung.