Cheil South West Asia (SWA) has named Jitender Dabas—fondly known as Jeetu—as the CEO of Cheil X, the independent full-service agency operating under the Cheil India SWA group, handling businesses beyond Samsung.
In this leadership role, Dabas will oversee Cheil X’s operations across Delhi and Mumbai, steering its creative, strategic, and digital marketing efforts. He will also provide strategic oversight to all agencies under the Cheil SWA umbrella, spanning digital media, influencer marketing, technology, content production, retail design, and performance solutions.
Dabas joins Cheil X from McCann Worldgroup, where he served as Chief Operating Officer (COO) and Chief Strategy Officer (CSO) for India, along with leading Effectiveness for APAC.
An IIT Delhi alumnus, Dabas is widely recognized as one of the top strategic minds in global advertising. With a distinguished career spanning WPP and IPG, he has been celebrated for his thought leadership and creative effectiveness. His accolades include the prestigious WPP Atticus Award, and he has served on juries for the Cannes Lions, 4A’s Jay Chiat Strategy Awards, WARC Awards, and Effies. His campaigns have collectively won over 100 awards at both national and international levels.
With this appointment, Cheil X is poised for a new era of innovation and growth, bringing transformative creativity and strategic excellence to the forefront of brand solutions.
Carlos Limseob Chung, Managing Director of Cheil India and President of Cheil South West Asia, said: “We’re thrilled to welcome Jitender Dabas to the Cheil SWA Group and family. His reputation as a professional and leader precedes him, and his appointment marks a significant milestone as Cheil X enters its next phase of growth and transformation.
With our scaling up of our capabilities in digital marketing through Experience Commerce, content production through CYLNDR, retail design & branding through newRx, and digital media and influencer marketing, there couldn’t have been anyone better than Jeetu to drive this intersection of creativity, strategy, and technology into a new future-focused agency.”
Jitender Dabas shared his perspective on the move, “I am really excited about leading Cheil X at the pivotal moment in its journey in India. As an industry, we are all acutely aware of the change that is upon us. The old models are giving way, and newer models haven’t yet crystallized. And the truth is that disruptive creativity and big brand strategy, only when deployed across the persuasion funnel, will lead to truly impactful outcomes.
Cheil is a global leader when it comes to solutions at the intersection of creativity and technology, and I am excited about partnering businesses and brands in India with all the new-age capabilities that Cheil is building in India. I’m looking forward to creating something future-facing: an agency that doesn’t just keep up with change but leads it.”
