Suraja Kishore exits BBDO India after five years

Suraja Kishore has resigned from his position as CEO of BBDO India, ending his five-year tenure with the Omnicom Group agency. The development was confirmed earlier this week.

"I am not moving on; I am moving forward. You can’t quit a culture! You take the culture forward. BBDO is not a company; it’s a culture with its own tribe! Nurturing and growing this tribe has been one of the most fulfilling experiences.

I have always chosen people over company. In the past, it was the desire to work with Balki & Prasoon that saw me having a great time at McCann and Lowe," Kishore told Social Samosa.

During his leadership, Kishore oversaw numerous campaigns across varied sectors and headed teamX India, the agency established by Omnicom specifically for Mercedes-Benz.

Kishore joined BBDO India in May 2019. His industry experience includes previous positions as EVP and General Manager of McCann Worldgroup's Mumbai office, National Head of Planning at Truth Central, and Executive Planning Director at McCann.

His earlier roles encompass National Planning Director at Publicis Groupe, Senior Vice President at Lowe Lintas, and Director, Brand Communications at Mudra Communications.

"Post-McCann, I chose Josy, and we have had a wonderful intuitive partnership. We made BBDO India the best office with a ‘people-first-creative-culture’ across BBDO Asia offices. We scored some wonderful clients and created campaigns that have defined industry benchmarks. I am not moving on from here; rather, I am moving forward with a huge sense of discovery. And to borrow from Proust – the real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new lands but seeing with new eyes, and to get those new eyes one needs to break away from the land one belongs to," he added.

Beyond agency leadership, Kishore has contributed to advertising education, having developed India's first creative programme in copywriting and art direction at MICA (Mudra Institute of Communications, Ahmedabad). He is also a founding member of the Account Planning Group India and has taught at Miami Ad School's Mumbai campus.

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