DDB Mudra Group has onboarded VML India’s Shashank Lanjekar as its new National Strategy Head to focus on advancing the agency’s strategic offerings across disciplines to further solidify it with strong creative fundamentals.
In his new role, he will work in close collaboration with leadership teams across the business and Group CCO- Rahul Mathew to further upgrade the product, create value and drive long-term growth for brands. He will work out of the Group’s Mumbai office.
Prior to joining DDB Mudra Group, he was serving the role of Chief Strategy Officer at VMLY&R since September 2022. Before that, he was the Chief Strategy Officer at Dentsu Creative India from April 2017 to August 2022.
Earlier on, he also worked with SoHo Square (now 82.5 Communications) as SVP and Head of Planning from June 2011 to March 2017, and as Business Director at McCann Erickson from January 2005 to May 2011.
In the past, he was also associated with IMS Learning Resources, Tech Pacific and Mahindra & Mahindra.
Expressing his excitement on the new role, Lanjekar, National Strategy Head, DDB Mudra Group, said, “The hunger of this team to keep pushing for better work year on year is what stood out for me to begin with. Add to that the width of the clientele and the depth of talent across the group, and you have the textbook definition of ‘opportunity’. What’s more, I have known Rahul since 2005 and am glad to see the hungry, front-foot player in him intact. I am itching to partner him at the other end of the crease.”
To this, Mathew, Chief Creative Officer, DDB Mudra Group, added, “We believe in strategy that has the power to move the work and the consumer. Not a strategy that merely sits pretty on PowerPoint slides. Shashank embodies the same belief. He will also help us strengthen many of the rigours needed to have a strong strategic backbone. Really excited to work with him again.”
