KV Sridhar 'Pops' joining SapientNitro as Chief Creative Officer

Pops, who left Leo Burnett this month as its Chief Creative Officer after a 17-year innings, will address the growing client demand for Sapient's unique combination of creative and technology service offerings

Sarmistha Neogy | Mumbai | May 8, 2014

KV Sridhar (Pops) who recently quit as Chief Creative Officer – India and Subcontinent of Leo Burnett, will be joining SapientNitro on July 1, 2014 as Chief Creative Officer – India.   It marks the first time that SapienNitro has created such a role. Sridhar left Leo Burnett after a stint of 17 years on May 4, 2014.

Based out of Mumbai, Sridhar will be a member of the global executive creative team and will work alongside Sapient India MD, Rajdeep Endow, as a critical part of the management team leading an expanding business in APAC.

When contacted, Sridhar said, “I am super excited to join an agency which brings technology and creativity together. It is a new age agency which integrates commerce, brand and digital communication.”

Sridhar added, “Marketers now think differently about brand-consumer engagement and recognise the critical need for strategy, creative and technology to blend together, to move from just creating ads to creating worlds, or as SapientNitro refers to it, Storyscaping. The canvas has changed in a way that can no longer be constrained in the traditional advertising model.”

Pops, who is known to encourage young talent, has surprised many in the industry as they were expecting him to join a traditional advertising agency.

Pops is credited with the emergence of Leo Burnett as a creative powerhouse and has helped the agency gain many accolades at international awards shows including Cannes Lions, New York Festival, and local Indian awards. It was also under his leadership that Leo Burnett India went on to win Agency of the Year in the Leo Burnett global network – twice. At the time of leaving Leo Burnett, Pops said he wanted to take a break to “reinvent, rediscover and rededicate” himself.

With a creative career spanning three decades, Sridhar is one of the most respected creative leaders in the Indian advertising industry. From humble beginnings as a Bollywood film billboard painter to his ascent as a creative visionary, Sridhar is today a regular on Indian and International award juries, and a powerful voice for the future of creativity.

"Pops, a creative powerhouse renowned for his ability to lead and develop talent and his desire to challenge the status quo, shares our vision for redefining storytelling for an always-on world,” said Gaston Legorburu, Worldwide Chief Creative Officer, SapientNitro. “Brands today recognise the need for sustaining consumer engagement across devices and channels to keep pace with the shifting expectations of the increasingly-connected consumer. At SapientNitro, Pops will be a strong contributor to that evolution and will undoubtedly further our ability to create strategic advantage for clients in this incredibly important, rapidly-expanding market.”

Sarmistha@bestmediainfo.com

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