Veteran creative leader Manesh Swamy has co-founded First AI Consultancy Pvt. Ltd. as co-founder and chief creative officer. Based in Navi Mumbai, the hybrid consultancy combines human creativity with AI-led speed, marking Swamy’s entrepreneurial reset after two decades in India’s digital and advertising industry.
Manesh Swamy has never been one to stand still for long, but his latest move marks a decisive break from convention. After more than two decades shaping brands, building creative teams and steering digital-first mandates across some of India’s most influential agencies and platforms, the award-winning creative leader has stepped into entrepreneurship. Swamy has co-founded First AI Consultancy Pvt. Ltd., taking on the role of co-founder and chief creative officer, signalling not just a career reset but a deliberate rewrite of what creative leadership can look like in an AI-driven era.
Based in Navi Mumbai, First AI enters a crowded but rapidly evolving market with a clear proposition: to operate as a hybrid consultancy, product studio and creative partner that blends human craft with AI-led speed and scale. For Swamy, the name itself carries layered meaning. At First AI, artificial intelligence is not merely a technology stack or a set of tools; it stands for artistic imagination, analytical implementation and audience interaction. This triad underpins an “always-on” innovation mindset that the company believes is essential for brands navigating fragmented attention, accelerating content cycles and increasingly data-driven creativity.
The launch of First AI in June 2025 comes at a moment when India’s advertising and marketing ecosystem is grappling with both the promise and the anxiety of AI. Automation, generative tools and machine-led insights are transforming workflows, compressing timelines and challenging traditional creative hierarchies. Swamy’s positioning of First AI suggests a conscious attempt to move the conversation beyond replacement fears towards collaboration, where AI amplifies creative thinking rather than dilutes it. The consultancy’s model aims to sit at the intersection of strategy, storytelling and product thinking, offering clients not just campaigns but systems and solutions designed for continuous evolution.
Swamy’s confidence in charting this path is rooted in a career that has traversed multiple phases of India’s digital advertising boom. Immediately prior to founding First AI, he served as managing director and chief creative officer at LS Digital Group from April 2024 to March 2025. In that role, he was responsible for aligning creative vision with business growth across the group’s integrated digital offerings. His tenure, though relatively brief, built on nearly five years within the LS Digital ecosystem, where he held several senior leadership positions, including chief creative officer and senior vice president.
At LS Digital, Swamy was instrumental in shaping large-scale digital and creative mandates, overseeing work that spanned social media, public relations, marcom and integrated brand storytelling. His progression through roles such as senior vice president creative social media PR and marcom, and vice president creative, reflected both his adaptability and his ability to scale creative operations in an increasingly complex client environment. Colleagues and industry peers often point to this period as one where Swamy honed a leadership style that balanced creative ambition with operational rigour.
Before LS Digital, Swamy spent two years at Logicserve Digital as vice president creative between 2019 and 2021. There, he led creative strategy and brand storytelling at a time when digital agencies were transitioning from execution partners to strategic advisors. His focus on narrative coherence across platforms helped Logicserve strengthen its creative credentials and deepen client relationships, particularly in categories that demanded both performance-driven outcomes and brand-led thinking.
However, it is Swamy’s 15-year tenure at Hungama Digital Services that most clearly illustrates the arc of his career. Joining the company as a senior visualiser, he rose through the ranks to become associate creative director and eventually creative director. Over a decade and a half, he played a central role in building Hungama’s creative function, contributing to its reputation as a powerhouse in digital content and marketing. Under his creative leadership, the company won more than 100 metals at national and international award shows, a testament not just to individual campaigns but to sustained creative excellence.
Throughout his career, Swamy has worked across an unusually wide spectrum of categories and brands. His portfolio includes campaigns for financial services players like HDFC Life and Bajaj Allianz, technology brands such as Canon, Intel and Eros Now, consumer and FMCG names including PepsiCo, Nerolac Paints and Mrs Bectors Group, and automotive and infrastructure brands like Tata Motors Finance, Mahindra Auto and ACC. He has also led work for tourism and lifestyle clients such as Singapore Tourism, alongside mandates for companies like Videocon D2H, Mankind Pharma, Milton and the UB Group. This diversity has shaped a creative sensibility that is both commercially grounded and culturally aware.
Beyond agency corridors, Swamy has maintained a visible presence in the broader creative community. He has served as a juror on several prominent global and Indian award platforms, including the YouTube Works Awards, Digixx, Goafest Abbys Agnes and AdFest Pattaya. His inclusion in Social Samosa’s 40 Under 40 list in 2019 further underscored his influence within the industry, recognising not only his body of work but his role in mentoring younger talent and shaping conversations around digital creativity.
With First AI, Swamy appears intent on bringing these accumulated experiences into a new organisational form. The consultancy’s emphasis on being part product studio reflects an understanding that brands increasingly need proprietary tools, platforms and content engines rather than one-off ideas. At the same time, positioning as a creative partner suggests continuity with the relational, trust-based model that has long underpinned successful agency-client collaborations. The hybrid nature of First AI is thus less a marketing label and more a response to how creative value is being redefined.
For Swamy, stepping into the role of co-founder and chief creative officer also represents a shift in accountability. Entrepreneurship demands not just vision but resilience, particularly in a market where AI narratives are evolving faster than regulatory frameworks or client comfort levels. Yet, his career trajectory suggests a readiness to navigate such uncertainty. Having witnessed the transition from early digital experimentation to today’s platform-dominated ecosystem, he brings a long-view perspective that may prove critical in distinguishing hype from lasting transformation.
As First AI begins its journey from Navi Mumbai, the industry will watch closely to see how its philosophy translates into work. If Swamy’s past is any indication, the consultancy is likely to prioritise ideas that are culturally resonant, technologically informed and strategically anchored. In an era where speed often threatens depth, First AI’s promise of combining human craft with AI-led efficiency offers a compelling proposition. For Manesh Swamy, this new chapter is not about leaving his past behind, but about reassembling its lessons into a future-facing creative enterprise.
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