The well-recognised personality of the advertising and marketing industry, Ashish Bhasin has quit Dentsu International as its India chairman and CEO – Asia Pacific, wrapping up a 13-year stint with the firm. Bhasin, has not disclosed his future plans but said that he will be attending an advanced management programme at Harvard shortly.
“I have had a wonderful 13 plus years and have enjoyed leading Dentsu India and Dentsu APAC. In this journey, I was lucky to have a brilliant team, very supportive colleagues and have made some lovely friends for life,” Bhasin said.
Bhasin will be on gardening leave for the next six months.
“I am unable to comment on my future plans for now but in the meanwhile, I am really looking forward to attending an Advanced Management Program, for which I have secured admission for the next semester.”
Replying to an ET query, a Dentsu spokesperson said that the company will announce a successor in due course.
“To manage this transition, Simon Jones, CFO APAC, and Belli Mathanda, COO APAC will work closely with our global CEO, Wendy Clark, who will have a greater focus on the region during this time supported by the APAC Executive team,” the spokesperson said.
Bhasin had first joined Aegis Media in June 2008 as chairman of India and CEO, South East Asia. Later, Dentsu acquired Aegis Network and created Dentsu Aegis Network (DAN).
In 2015, he was given charge of the entire India operations of Dentsu and DAN and subsequently was promoted to the role of CEO of Asia Pacific in September 2019.
Bhasin can be credited for the exponential inorganic growth of Dentsu in India. From less than 50 employees at Aegis Network, he grew DAN to over 3000 people and led many acquisitions.
In 2015, he announced an ambitious target of turning Dentsu into the second-largest agency group in India by the end of 2017. He claims Dentsu achieved the milestone in March that year. Some of the acquisitions in his watch included Taproot, Webchutney and WatConsult.
