Mayuresh Dubhashi returns to Publicis Groupe India as CCO of Saatchi & Saatchi

Saatchi & Saatchi India, part of Publicis Groupe India, has appointed Mayuresh Dubhashi as Chief Creative Officer. Dubhashi’s appointment follows the transition of former agency CCO, Rohit Malkani, into a new role as Senior Creative Advisor. Malkani will continue to support the creative mandate for key brands.

Based in Mumbai, Dubhashi will report to Paritosh Srivastava, CEO of Saatchi & Saatchi India, BBH India and Propagate India, and will work alongside Kartik Smetacek, Chief Creative Officer, Saatchi & Saatchi India, to lead the agency’s creative direction.

Dubhashi returns to Publicis Groupe India from FCB Neo India, where he was Chief Creative Officer. He previously held creative leadership roles at Leo India, Grey, Taproot Dentsu and JWT, bringing more than two decades of experience across brand building, innovation and storytelling.

During his previous stint at Leo India, Dubhashi led Oreo’s #BringBack2011, which became India’s most awarded campaign of 2023. His work has also been recognised at Cannes Lions, D&AD, Spikes Asia, Effie India, APAC Effie Awards, The One Show and The One Show Asia for brands including Oreo, KFC, Adidas, Uber and Amazon.

During his nearly decade-long tenure at Saatchi & Saatchi India, Malkani led creative across the agency’s Mumbai, Delhi and Kolkata offices, strengthened client relationships, built new brand partnerships and helped develop the agency’s creative talent and reputation.

On joining the network Dubhashi said: “Saatchi & Saatchi India is known for its distinctive creative culture and its legacy of defining work. As marketing continues to evolve, I believe the most powerful creativity will be informed by culture, data and technology, while remaining rooted in strong human insight and ideas. Publicis Groupe’s capabilities across data, technology and creativity provide a powerful platform to bring this to life for brands. I’m excited to lead this next phase of the agency’s creative journey alongside Kartik and the team.”

Srivastava said: “As the industry continues to evolve, we remain focused on strengthening our creative reputation and shaping the future of our agency and our clients’ businesses. Modern creativity is increasingly about understanding culture, consumers and technology to create ideas that drive meaningful business impact. Mayuresh brings exactly this combination and proven ability to build brands, making him a strong fit for our ambition to create transformational work. Kartik and Mayuresh will work closely together and lead the agency’s entire client portfolio to ensure every brand will benefit from their combined expertise. I would also like to thank Rohit for his significant contribution to Saatchi & Saatchi India over nearly a decade and look forward to our partnership in his advisory role.”

Rajdeepak Das, Chief Creative Officer, Publicis Groupe South Asia & Chairman, Leo South Asia, added, “It’s wonderful to welcome Mayuresh back to Publicis Groupe India. Having worked closely with him during his time at Leo India, I have seen his ability to build strong creative cultures and shape work that connects deeply with brands and consumers. As we continue to evolve our creative ambition and create work that drives meaningful growth, strong creative leadership remains a key priority for us. Mayuresh brings the right experience, instinct and perspective to further elevate the creative culture at Saatchi & Saatchi India.”

Pictured left to right: Rajdeepak Das, Kartik Smetacek, Mayuresh Dubhashi and Paritosh Srivastava.