Mullen Lintas Strengthens North India Operations

To consolidate its footing in the region, Mullen Lintas has announced a new leadership at their Delhi office. The business function for the North region will be led by Sunil Singh Manhas who has been appointed as senior VP and business head. Nisheeth Srivastava, elevated to group creative director, will oversee the creative product and will be partnered by Sarabjit Singh, who has also been elevated to group creative director (Art). Saumya Baijal, appointed as VP and head of planning – North, will lead the planning function for the region.

The agency's Delhi office has a diverse portfolio of clients ranging from Consumer Appliances, Consumer Durables, Home Improvement, FMCG, Healthcare, etc, and also handles flagship brands like Havells and Dabur. It has also won creative mandates for AkzoNobel and LifeCell International recently. The revamp of the leadership team is aimed to bring about a transformative change to the agency's Delhi office.

Sunil Singh Manhas, the business lead for the office, comes from Dentsu and has worked extensively across multiple categories and brands like, Honda, Maruti Suzuki, KFC, Hindustan Times, Max Life Insurance, Paytm, CP Plus, Herbalife and Moov. With over a decade of experience with agencies like Ogilvy, DDB Mudra and Dentsu, his knack for understanding the business of brands will be a great addition to the agency's Delhi office. Sunil's mandate will be to deepen the relationship with existing businesses and build new ones.

Commenting on strengthening the business function, Hari Krishnan, CEO, Mullen Lintas said: “Mullen Lintas Delhi is poised for growth having already added a diverse mix of brands into the portfolio this year. We felt that this is the right time to bring in a new leadership team that is young, talented and driven. Sunil Singh Manhas comes on board as sr VP and business head for Delhi. Sunil is a seasoned campaigner and knows the Delhi market inside out. He brings with him a wealth of cross-category experience and knowledge. His drive for new business and his passion for ideas will augur well for us.”

Nisheeth Srivastava, who has over 13 years of experience in marketing, advertising, content and digital, started his career as a brand executive with Mudra Ahmedabad in 2007. In 2010, he moved to Lowe Lintas Delhi as a creative. He has also worked with Radio Mirchi (UP) as Cluster Programming Head and OLX India as Brand Creative Lead in the past. A strong advocate of a digital-first approach resulting in conversation and conversion, he has created some highly recognised work for brands such as OLX, Google Pay, ABP News, Philips Lighting, Dabur Real, Havells, Maruti Suzuki, Cargill Foods, and India Gate rice. Nisheeth's mandate will be to steer the agency's creative product to the next level and boost clients' confidence in the agency.

Sarabjit Singh, who will partner Nisheeth in leading the creative duties, brings 15 years of experience to the table, having worked in agencies like Lowe Lintas, Leo Burnett, Cheil and Rediffusion, in the past. His work has won several awards at shows such as Cannes, Spikes Asia, New York Festivals, Effies etc. Sarabjit joined Mullen Lintas when it started in 2015 and has been an integral part of the team ever since. At Mullen Lintas, Sarabjit has lifted the creative product of several brands that the agency handles out of its Delhi office.

Saumya Baijal has over 14 years of advertising and marketing experience working across agencies like Ogilvy, Lowe Lintas, McCann Erickson and others. She has extensively worked on brands like Google, Uber, Fabindia, HT Radio, Philips and more. Previously, she has also worked at Cisco, as Brand Manager - India. She is a strong voice in the gender movement and a bilingual writer. Her articles and poems have been published in popular, widely read national publications and various anthologies. Her role as the chief strategist will be crucial in the transformation of the planning function at the agency’s regional office.

Speaking on the strengthening of the creative and planning function, Hari Krishnan added “Under the creative leadership of our CCOs Azazul Haque & Garima Khandelwal, there’s a lot that we have achieved already in terms of creative reputation with some stellar work across offices. To reproduce the same momentum in Delhi, we’ve strengthened the creative team with Nisheeth Srivastava & Sarabjit Singh. They are hybrid creative folks with an innate understanding of digital and traditional. 

The strategic planning product of Mullen Lintas follows the challenger philosophy and under the leadership of our National Planning Director – Ekta Relan, we’ve made many strides across different brands in our portfolio in terms of brand impact. In keeping with the challenger mentality of the agency, we have brought on board Saumya Baijal as VP and Head of Planning for North. Saumya’s passion for ideas & her energy and enthusiasm towards all things creative, is just what we need for our young & agile operation. With the four of them leading the operation, we are confident of making a prominent impact in Delhi.”

The new roles are effective immediately.