Publicis India has announced the elevation of Suraj Pombra to the role of Executive Director. He was until recently the Executive Vice-President, managing business and clients for Publicis Capital’s Mumbai office. The move comes on the back of the agency putting up a strong growth this year, especially the Mumbai office that has bagged a rich roster of clients in recent months.
Pombra will continue to manage a cluster of brands under Publicis Capital, including L'Oréal, Netmeds.com, Zee5 India, Linen Club among others while also being involved in new business growth mandate for the agency. He will continue to report to Srija Chatterjee, MD, Publicis India.
Pombra also takes over the role of Market Acceleration Lead (Country Head) at Publicis Emil, the bespoke new model integrated agency created by the Publicis Groupe to specially manage the global digital transformation mandate for Mercedes-Benz.
Commenting on Pombra’s new role, Chatterjee said, “Suraj has been one of our top performers managing key clients and winning new businesses consistently for over three years now. Under his leadership, the Mumbai office has seen an exponential growth while he also effectively continues to drive and mentor a strong and dedicated team of doers. I am also thrilled as he undertakes a new role to steer Publicis Emil in India and am confident he will continue to exceed expectations as always.”
On being promoted to the new role, Pombra said, “After my entrepreneurial adventure, the challenge of growing a modest operation at Publicis Capital Mumbai was naturally enticing. I’m fortunate to have had a fantastic and committed team that’s partnered me in chasing this growth and I’m sure will help take it farther. I’m also honoured to have been entrusted with the leadership of Publicis Emil India, to partner Daimler India in their journey of transformation and in the process take the Mercedes-Benz brand and business to even greater heights. And I’m once again fortunate to have a young, enthusiastic and talented team to help do just that.”
Pombra’s professional career spans over two decades where he has worked with ad firms managing multiple clients and brands across agencies such as DDB Mudra, Grey, JWT and of course Publicis where he has had two stints, including the current one of over three years. Prior to Publicis India, he had co-founded a Mumbai-based start-up called Minority that focussed on brand consulting and full-service communications for a number of clients.