Streamlining its presence in India, Wieden+Kennedy, the independent creative network which has seen a major exodus with its Chief Creative Officer- Santosh Padhi aka Paddy and President- Ayesha Ghosh resigning at W+K India after 2.5 years, has now decided to wind down its ‘advertising’ operations in India.
As part of the same, the creative network is poised to shut down its Mumbai operations through the end of 2024 and scale back its workforce in Delhi to include only those employees who will work with the agency’s global leadership to support critical shared services and global business operations, excluding advertising.
Moving forward, the agency will not be taking on any client opportunities in Delhi or Mumbai, W+K India mentioned in a press statement.
“We are very grateful to Paddy, Ayesha and everyone in the Mumbai and Delhi offices for their efforts over the past two years. We deeply appreciate the hard work and dedication from the departing staff, it is never easy to say goodbye to employees,” the agency stated.
Reckoned as one of India’s most renowned creative professionals, Paddy had joined Wieden+Kennedy India as Chief Creative Officer in early 2022 after making an exit from Taproot (now part of Dentsu Creative India)- the brainchild of him and Agnello Dias aka Aggy.
He was shortly joined by Ghosh who assumed the role of President at the agency and the two together then went on to open W+K’s office in Mumbai, and oversaw creative and business operations across Mumbai and Delhi.
That being said, it is not just Paddy and Ghosh who have rendered their resignations at the agency but also Shreekant Srinivasan, Head of Delhi, W+K India, who has decided to part ways from the agency.