Ajay Gahlaut joins dentsu Creative as its Group Chief Creative Officer

He was the former chief creative and MD of Publicis Worldwide.

dentsu India has announced the appointment of creative veteran Ajay Gahlaut as Group Chief Creative Officer (GCCO), spearheading creative excellence across dentsu India’s award-winning creative agencies.

with over 27 years of experience in advertising, Ajay wrote the line ‘Do Boond Zindagi Ki’ that anchored the famous Pulse Polio Immunisation campaign with the superstar Amitabh Bachchan. He also created more than a dozen commercials for the campaign and played a significant part in eradicating polio from India.

He was also behind the line ‘Make It Large’ for the whiskey brand Royal Stag that transformed its fortunes and made it the highest selling whiskey in its price range. He created the character ‘Mr. Murthy’ for Voltas Air Conditioners and catapulted Voltas to the number one position in the category.

Ajay will report to Amit Wadhwa, Chief Executive Officer (CEO), dentsu Creative India and will be responsible for accelerating dentsu India’s creative businesses under one optimised service line.

Dentsu India initiated the formation of a new structure for its Creative service line in June this year. The redesign - part of the network’s global plan to transform into the most integrated group in the world by 2024, brings together some of India’s best agencies under one umbrella and catapults dentsu India into its fresh journey to 2.0.

The agency brands that come together under this new creative design are Dentsu Webchutney, Taproot Dentsu, WATConsult, Perfect Relations, Isobar, Dentsu One, Dentsu India and Dentsu Impact.

Commenting on Ajay’s appointment, Amit Wadhwa said, “Dentsu India is in the midst of an exciting transformation journey towards dentsu India 2.0 and Ajay’s joining is a critical part of the plan. Ajay is a well-respected Creative leader with years of experience across categories and the right mindset that matches with dentsu India 2.0. With the brilliant Creative minds in our business, we will be a force to be reckoned with, delivering growth for our clients while continuing our creative evolution at pace and scale.”

Ajay Gahlaut said, “Dentsu’s creativity defines generations. When the opportunity came to join Amit and his team, I could not refuse. Creativity is in the spotlight, with brands looking to differentiate themselves in a disrupted marketplace – it has never been a more exciting time to work in this field rich with opportunity. I am excited to join dentsu, Amit and the Creative teams, delighting clients and creating era-defining work together.”

Gahlaut’s appointment comes after a series of senior-level exits from dentsu that included CEO Anand Bhadkamkar; Gautam Mehra, chief product and data officer, dentsu International and CEO, DAN Programmatic; Vivek Bhargava, head, dentsu Performance Group; Isobar's Group MD Shamsuddin Jasani; Rubeena Singh, CEO, iProspect.