Leo Burnett India has announced the appointment of Niket Kumar as executive vice president and head – digital, Leo Burnett Mumbai. In this role, Kumar will be responsible for leading growth and glory on a cluster of businesses in the Mumbai office. He will report to Dheeraj Sinha, chief executive officer and chief strategy officer - South Asia, Leo Burnett, and Rajdeepak Das, chief executive officer, and chief creative officer - South Asia, Leo Burnett.

Niket joins Leo Burnett from Aditya Birla Capital where in his last role he was heading product, channel, and customer life cycle marketing for their Life Insurance business.

Niket comes with over 18 years of experience in brand marketing and advertising across categories such as BFSI, FMCG, IT and telecom, automobile, health and personal care, confectionery, hospitality/QSR, and retail. He has worked with cross-functional and cross-cultural teams from India and other countries such as US, UK, Europe, Middle East, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Singapore, Thailand, and Malaysia.

Dheeraj Sinha said “At Leo Burnett, we are looking to build a team that reflects our new age thinking and pushes the envelope on creating best in class work for our clients. Niket comes with valuable experience from both the brand and agency perspectives. Add to that his digital experience and I am sure that Niket will add value to both our teams and clients and accelerate our agenda of providing full-funnel solutions to our clients. Niket’s appointment adds to the dynamic leadership team we have in Mumbai and I welcome him to the Leo Burnett family.”

“Niket’s appointment adds fresh thinking and energy to our leadership team. It also reflects the momentum that the agency currently has, and I am confident that Niket will play a valuable role in building and nurturing our clients and businesses. I wish him all the best in his new role,” RajDeepak Das added.

Niket Kumar states, “Leo Burnett today looks and acts like a giant melting pot of multiple specialties with a creative fire burning under it. As the lines between ‘mainline’ and ‘digital’ significantly get blurry, everyone seems to be working towards a common goal of delivering the best solutions that can drive business outcomes. I believe with my brand and business marketing experience I will be able to bridge the gap between us and our clients better by helping ourselves deeper into the marketing funnel; using our creative excellence to help deliver better user experiences and make everything that we do for our clients measurable and attributable.”