Grey Group India has named Anusha Shetty as its Chairman and CEO. Shetty will be working in close coordination with Nirvik Singh, Global COO Grey Group and Chairman and CEO, Grey AMEA. Shetty was Co-Founder of Autumn Worldwide, a digital agency, which Grey acquired in 2018. This reconstitution is a second one for Grey in as many years. In April 2018, Shetty’s predecessor, Yashaswini Samat, replaced Sunil Lulla, who headed the agency for four years. Lulla is currently CEO of BARC India. Samat handled P&G, Grey’s largest account in the AMEA region.
Subsequently, in September 2019, Grey named Nirvik Singh Global COO, in addition to his role as Chairman and CEO of Grey Group Asia Pacific, Middle East, and Africa.
Samat, CEO, Grey India, will now move to Singapore to take up a role for WPP/GREY and will continue to report to Singh. Sandipan Bhattacharyya, currently Chief Creative Officer, has been appointed Managing Director.
Taking over her new role, Shetty said, “Convergence as a topic is not new. But to see this in action, driving value for our clients and our end consumers, is a dream for all of us. The breakdown of communication silos is the only way to create a future agency model and I am delighted to lead this journey with Sandipan.”
Singh said, “In this new decade, I firmly believe that our clients’ needs will be best served by an organisation and structure that puts creativity, data, and all things digital at the heart of our offering. I am, therefore, delighted to announce the merger of Grey, one of India’s leading creative agencies and Autumn Grey – arguably one of the country’s most respected digital/data companies. Anusha possesses a rare combination of digital and social media knowledge along with entrepreneurial flair and business acumen.”
With over more than 20 years of marketing and advertising experience in India and Silicon Valley, Shetty, who had earlier co-founded Autumn Worldwide, a hyper-specialised digital marketing firm, also worked with Lowe and Euro RSCG, handling brands such as Intel, Unilever, Titan, and Honeywell.
Referring to Sandipan, he observed, “Sandi is extremely talented and has been instrumental in taking Grey’s creativity to a global level. His creative direction and storytelling expertise is a conversation starter and his campaigns are found in the middle of pop culture. With a dual approach of creative and digital working in unison, Grey is in the right place to create more ground-breaking, famously effective work for its clients.”
Bhattacharyya said, “It’s the perfect blend of creativity, technology, and data that’s happening at Grey and I’m lucky to be leading these exciting times. Anusha and I are both intensely creative beings who think of ideas as a business multiplier, and we’re cooking up a hot new sauce. Watch this space or better still, give us a call.”
With over 20 years of experience in advertising, having worked at BBDO India, Enterprise Nexus, and Saatchi & Saatchi, prior to Grey, Bhattacharya’s work on PepsiCo, GE, Wrigley’s, P&G Gillette, Aviva, and Radio City has won honours at Cannes Lions, The One Show, Clio Awards, Spikes Asia Pacific, Adfest, Effies, and AMEs.
