Sumanto Chattopadhyay appointed as Chairman and Chief Creative Officer of Soho Square, India

New roles for Sumanto Chattopadhyay, Ajay Gahlaut, Sukesh Nayak, Kainaz Karmakar, Harshad Rajadhyaksha, Azazul Haque and Mahesh Gharat.

Soho Square, part of the Ogilvy group in India, has appointed Sumanto Chattopadhyay as chairman and chief creative officer, effective August 1.

Part of Ogilvy since 1993, Chattopadhyay (fondly known as Shumo in agency circles) has worked closely on brands like Dove, Pond’s, Star Plus, UTI Bank (a brand he relaunched as Axis Bank), Pro Kabaddi (another brand he helped launch), Maharashtra Tourism and The Economist.

Previously, he was executive creative director, Ogilvy (Mumbai, Kolkata and Colombo offices).

Piyush Pandey, executive chairman and creative director, Ogilvy South Asia, says, in a press release, “Sumanto is one of our most talented, seasoned creative resources with rich experience across categories. More importantly, he is a fantastic creative leader and, over the years, I’ve seen some great talent emerge under his leadership. Soho Square has picked up tremendous momentum. Sumanto will help build on its success and propel it forward.”

He holds an MBA from McGill University, Canada, and an MS in Applied Mathematics from Clemson University, South Carolina, USA.

Meanwhile, Ogilvy has announced the following leadership changes on the creative front, also effective August 1:

. Ajay Gahlaut named Chief Creative Officer, Ogilvy North and Deputy CCO, Ogilvy India

. Sukesh Nayak, Kainaz Karmakar and Harshad Rajadhyaksha named Chief Creative Officers, Ogilvy West

. Mahesh Gharat and Azazul Haque named Chief Creative Officers, Ogilvy South

All CCOs will report directly to Sonal Dabral, Group CCO and Vice Chairman Ogilvy India, who was appointed last week (from DDB Mudra). Also, couple of days back, Rajiv Rao, moved on from Ogilvy; he was NCD at the agency and is best known for his work on the Vodafone account.

About these changes, Ogilvy's Pandey says in a press release,"Ajay, Sukesh, Kainaz, Harshad, Azaz and Mahesh will lead the new integrated creative culture in each of our offices with positivity and freshness... They have the maturity and sensitivity to partner the senior talent we have in each office, and lead them as a team. New energy is essential to keep creative cultures vibrant.”

Kunal Jeswani, CEO, Ogilvy India, says, “Ajay, Sukesh, Harshad, Kainaz, Azaz and Mahesh represent the best of Ogilvy creative leadership. The work each of them has championed over the last few years is already new age, integrated work for our biggest clients... Putting these creative leaders in integrated creative leadership roles is both a recognition of their talent and a reflection of our commitment to driving creative excellence across every consumer touch-point.”