Former VML President, Saurabh Saksena, who had called it a day in May 2024 at WPP’s newly rechristened entity formed out of the merger of VMLY&R and Wunderman Thompson, has launched his new Marketing Communications venture- Next Wave Worldwide.
Announcing the launch of the same on LinkedIn, he mentioned, “Does the world need another agency? No. But it absolutely needs one that leverages the full potential of AI, boosted by the expertise of seasoned professionals! Excited to introduce my newly-founded venture: Next Wave Worldwide- born to revolutionise Marketing Communications.”
“Next Wave Worldwide stands for ‘Human Expertise amplified by Artificial Intelligence’. We’re not an AI company. While our proprietary AI engines do power our back-end, it is human expertise that truly unlocks value for marketers and advertisers. Why is this important? Expertise is indispensable. It’s the proverbial key to unlocking the true potential of AI- that’s what the visual represents. Why do we exist? To prove, contrary to popular notion, that Agility, Quality and Affordability can indeed coexist,” he added.
Before the launch of Next Wave Worldwide, he was associated with WPP’s newest agency- VML India for a period of five months and prior to the holding company announcing the merger of two of its agencies- Wunderman Thompson and VMLY&R, to form the newly rechristened creative powerhouse- VML, he was associated with the latter as Chief Executive Officer for more than a year, starting December 2022.
From August 2019 to December 2022, he served as the President of WPP’s Red Fuse Communications and from October 2009 to July 2019, he was associated with J Walter Thompson Worldwide in a slew of roles across the agency’s offices in India and Malaysia.
Saksena joined the JWT’s Gurgaon office in the capacity of Executive Business Director from October 2009 to January 2014 and later expanded his remit to include the position of Chief Growth Officer until October 2016.
In 2016, he was appointed the Managing Director of JWT, Malaysia and was later elevated to the role of Group CEO for Ogilvy and JWT (including Mirum) Malaysia, both, in 2017. In 2018, he took the baton of managing integrated talent, culture and businesses of JWT and Wunderman as a precursor to becoming Wunderman Thompson Malaysia’s CEO by relocating, restructuring, and reorganizing the way the agency worked.
From October 2007 to September 2009, he served the role of Publisher (Head of Bangalore Edition) at Mid Day; Branch Head- Mudra (Bangalore) at DDB Mudra Communications from April 2005 to September 2007 and Associate Business Director at DDB Mudra Group from July 2001 to April 2005.
In the past, Saksena also worked with Ogilvy Outreach and Clarion Communications for more than three years each.
