Former Atlys brand head Janardhan Pokala co-founds creative agency KALI

New Delhi: Janardhan Pokala, former brand head at Atlys, has co-founded KALI, a multidisciplinary creative agency working across brand strategy, mainline advertising, digital, film and still production and emerging technologies.

The new agency is headquartered in Delhi and will work with brands across India. According to the company, it will bring together strategy, creative development and execution within a single structure, rather than operating through separate specialist teams.

Pokala previously led brand and creative strategy at Atlys across Indian and international markets. Before that, he spent more than a decade working with agencies and brands across categories and geographies, focusing on brand development and campaign work.

Speaking on the launch, Pokala said, “KALI is a response to how fragmented the work has become. We’ve built systems where specialists operate in silos. Someone comes up with the idea, someone else is responsible for scaling it on social, someone else leads strategy, but the work suffers because responsibility is fragmented. Along the way, an industry built to challenge has settled for approval."

He added, "We’re building an agency where creative, strategy, and execution sit at the same table. Where the people who create the work are involved from the first conversation to the final output. And where ideas aren’t diluted as they move through layers. The agencies that have shaped culture didn’t do it by playing safe. They stayed independent in spirit, questioning conventions, backing strong points of view, and taking responsibility for the work they put out. That’s the kind of agency we want to build.”