L&K Saatchi & Saatchi India appoints Shitu Patil as Head of Art and ECD

L&K Saatchi & Saatchi India, a  full-service communications agency under Publicis Groupe India,  has appointed Shitu Patil as Head of Art and Executive Creative Director. The agency specialises in  in traditional and digital advertising, branding, design, UI/UX, content and brand consultancy services. 

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A creative entrepreneur at heart, Patil will be based in Mumbai and report to both Kartik Smetacek and Rohit Malkani, Joint NCDs at the agency.

As the Head of Art, Patil’s mandate would be to raise the quality of art even further, across all branches of the network including the digital-first vertical Saatchi & Saatchi Propagate, and put out stunning work across print, digital & film categories. She will be leading a few key lifestyle businesses and will largely be working with teams in raising the bar on key projects and daily work across brands.

Kartik Smetacek

Welcoming Shitu to the agency fold, Smetacek said, “Having worked with Shitu in the past, I know first-hand the difference she can make. Apart from being a world-class designer herself, she’s also a fantastic leader who will inspire the entire team to raise their game.”

Rohit Malkani

Malkani added, “Shitu is a rare blend of new-age thinking and solid experience, all mixed together with entrepreneurial fire. She is the kind of creative person you would do anything to have in your arsenal. And we can’t wait to see her fire.”

Patil is a creative director and lifestyle/luxury specialist with a passion and enterprise for building brands. With over her 21 years of diverse design and communication experience, she has led teams, created award-winning work, served on global awards jury and helped build and grow major brands for India’s leading design and advertising agencies including her own.

On joining the agency and the role ahead, Patil said, “While my last decade as a creative entrepreneur has been phenomenal and deeply gratifying in terms of personal growth, having spent the first decade of my career in network agencies, I sometimes missed the scale that a network offers. What excited me about the role out here is the possibility of creating impact with my craft at a larger scale for both businesses & our Indian industry at large. Meeting Paritosh Srivastava, Kartik Smetacek and Rohit Malkani and understanding their vision for the agency only sealed the deal. I look forward to bring my design aesthetics, creative leadership and entrepreneurial spirit together to uplift the creative product at the agency.”

Prior to joining L&K Saatchi & Saatchi, Patil was running ‘Plus One Design’, an agency she co-founded around 10 years ago. She was involved in building brands through strategic design & content solutions to bring about transformative change in business & society. She managed several key clients for Plus One Design like Raymond, Park Avenue, Blackberrys, Arvind, Future Consumer Ltd, Femina Flaunt Salon, Creambell, IPTL (International Premier Tennis League), Flipkart etc.

She has also lent her creative expertise across agencies like Publicis Ambience, Lowe Lintas and FCB Ulka.

Patil is the recipient of several awards like Effies, Goafest Abbys, Kyoorius Design Awards, D&AD, UN Grand Award for her work on clients like Raymond, NAB, Pratham, Lifebuoy etc. Most recently, she was part of the Typography Jury at the D&AD Awards, 2022.

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