Leo Burnett appoints Nitish Mukherjee as MD

Nitish Mukherjee, managing director, Orchard Advertising, has been given a larger role in the Burnett family. He is all set to join Leo Burnett as its MD (As is known, Orchard is Leo Burnett’s sister concern in India). In his new role, he will be based in Mumbai, and will oversee both Leo Burnett’s Mumbai and Delhi offices in India.

In the last seven years as MD of Orchard, Mukherjee took Orchard from a single city start-up, to three full-fledged offices, in Bangalore, Mumbai and Chennai, as well as a presence at Delhi. The agency’s revenues, according to company sources, grew around five fold.

“One of the toughest jobs in this business is to help a start-up agency achieve national stature,” says Arvind Sharma, chairman of the India subcontinent for Leo Burnett. “Having done a good job at Orchard, his new role at Leo Burnett is a natural progression for Mukherjee.”

Sharma adds that the growth of the Indian economy offers infinite opportunities for all businesses, including advertising agencies. “But these opportunities come with increasing complexity – attention to speedy development and retention of talent, demand from clients for holistic solutions tailored to their needs and aggressive development of strengths in the marketing services areas,” he says. Sharma expects Mukherjee’s takeover as MD to strengthen the Leo Burnett top management team to deal with these challenges.

KV Sridhar, national creative director, Leo Burnett India, gives the creative guy’s perspective when he says that under Mukherjee’s leadership, Orchard picked awards at international, as well as, local award shows. “Work for Hitachi Air Conditioners, Manhattan Credit Cards and Air Deccan was recognised and loved all around by consumers and juries alike,” he says. Mukherjee was with Orchard for over a decade, prior to which he was with FCB Ulka (then FCB Advertising) and Contract.

Mukherjee’s successor at Orchard will be revealed shortly.