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Hemant Jain joins Leo Burnett, Mumbai as ECD
After stints at Wieden+Kennedy in Amsterdam and London, Jain has come back to Indian advertising and will join Leo Burnett Mumbai in the first week of January, 2010
It is homecoming for Hemant Anant Jain as he returns to India to join Leo Burnett as executive creative director. Jain will join the Mumbai office in the first week of January, 2010.
This will be Jain's second stint at Leo Burnett. He started his career at the agency in New Delhi.
Jain joins Leo Burnett from Wieden+Kennedy, London. He moved from Rediffusion Y&R (then Rediffusion DY&R) to join W+K Amsterdam and then headed to London after a year.
"After a conversation with Pops (KV Sridhar, national creative director, Leo Burnett) a month ago, I decided to return, impressed by his new age vision for the agency," he adds.
Besides Leo Burnett, W+K and Rediffusion Y&R, Jain has also worked at Ogilvy India.
Sridhar says, "Hemant (Jain) has worked on good brands and is one of the most awarded persons in Indian advertising. We are always looking for young and creative talent. He will bring a lot of energy, freshness and provide inspiration to the team here.
"Hemant likes to work with the digital and new age media. That will come in handy. We have to look at advertising beyond traditional means such as television commercials."
Jain has won numerous international awards through his decade long career, including a few at Cannes, D&AD, One Show, Clio and AAAI.
He has worked on brands such as Nokia, DNA, Indian Oil and India Tourism, among others. At W+K, Jain worked on Nokia International for two and a half years and made three Nokia films for the Indian market last year.
Jain's work for Midland Bookshop at Rediffusion, a campaign he conceived, bagged a bronze at the One Show in 2006 as well as a D&AD silver nomination.
The writer, illustrator and designer stresses on his love for the digital media, saying that internationally, agencies are moving towards a more digital future. Jain emphasises on the need for brands to ensure a two-way communication with the consumer and how advertising must facilitate the same.
"In the last three years, all the briefs I worked on had a digital component. People tend to confuse digital with the Internet. However, to me, digital is all about conversations. As a brand, you have to be ready to hear and engage your consumer in a dialogue. You have to understand what works for you and what does not," says Jain.
"It is no longer about television, print and websites. We must create interesting communication, which may take us into very interesting territories," he adds.