Santosh Padhi set to open new independent agency, Into Creative alongside Ayesha Ghosh
Pictured L-R: Namrata Gosavi, Ayesha Ghosh, Gargi Vegiraju, Santosh Padhi, Yogesh Rijhwani and Tania Dey.
Santosh Padhi (Paddy) and Ayesha Ghosh, who departed Wieden+Kennedy India in October 2024, are set to open their own independent creative agency, Into Creative, along with four other Co-founders.
Paddy the founder, will be the CCO and Chairman, while Ghosh will be the CEO and Co-founder. They are joined by Yogesh Rijhwani who will lead creative, Tania Dey – Strategy and Digital, Namrata Gosavi will lead design and digital, while Gargi Vegiraju will be the business lead.
The glory days of creativity seem to be in the past; it is the intention of this versatile team to get to big, brave & fearless creative work, irrespective of the medium/platform.
Paddy is not new to founding an agency. He co-founded Taproot back in 2009 which was sold to the Dentsu group. Into Creative is his brain child to fill the current vacuum in the industry. He holds the majority stake in the company, while the others are also stakeholders.
With six founding members having eclectic skills and personalities, Into Creative will help brands find that Big Directional Idea — not a line that lives in communication, but a big bang of an idea that can penetrate deep into the brand universe. Which can only be delivered by a team that’s game to go deep into things that count for a brand.
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The team with their deliberately conflicting perspectives and complementary strengths, have a shared history of debating approaches, strategies and ideas. They have worked on some of the biggest brands and have powerful work to their credit, such as for Jio 5G, Hero Vida EV, Hero Cycles, Jindal Steel, Jockey, Zoya to name a few. The 6 worked together at Wieden+Kennedy India, which closed its advertising service in India in December 2024. Rijhwani, Vegiraju, Paddy and Ayesha have previously worked together at Taproot.
Paddy said: “I would have easily retired on an island but the calling from adland is loud and clear. This industry has given me everything and it is time for me to give back.
“Our focus will be on doing brave, fearless, creative brand work. Indian brands and platforms have grown in number, but creativity hasn’t. Oddly enough, brands are being built on creativity. Somewhere the passion of creative agencies to push boundaries has been lost. In a world where anything is now creatively possible, we are here to fill this vacuum.”
Ghosh added: “More experiments happen when independent. And experiments often fail but every now and then give birth to a gloriously unexpected, triumphant discovery. We’re here for that.
“We see ourselves as multipliers. When one collaborates with high creative integrity, respecting every platform, that’s when true magnification of ideas happens.”
Paddy the CCO & Chairman and Ayesha as the CEO will be involved with all aspects of the agency.
The agency will be open to adding other heads to champion further specialist verticals as and when needed, with stakes assigned to them as well.
The Big Directional Idea will be the guiding light for all possible brand requirements; from advertising campaigns to media properties to social content strategy to app design to tech-led innovations to in-game content to PR and so on and on. These kinds of ideas only come to life through deep collaboration. The team will work with a diverse range of thinkers, makers, creators, coders and partners who bring fresh perspectives and help push ideas further.
Into Creative will officially be launching in Mumbai on 30th March 2025, the day of Gudi Padwa/ Ugadi festival, which is celebrated as a new beginning in most parts of India, also the day when Lord Brahma had created the universe.
They have been in talks to come to closure with a few clients. These will be announced subsequently.