W+K shuts Mumbai office; scales back operations, staff

Advertising agency Wieden+Kennedy has announced that it will shut its Mumbai office by the end of the year. The creative agency will also scale back its employee count in its Delhi office. The company said it is trying to figure out how the Indian market fits into its future plans.

The announcement comes after the agency's chief creative officer (CCO) Santosh Padhi (Paddy) and president Ayesha Ghosh announced their departure. However, the duo will remain with W+K until the end of the current calendar year to facilitate a smooth transition.

Santosh Padhi and Ayesha Ghosh quit W+K India

Padhi joined W+K as CCO in early 2022 and was joined by his former Taproot colleague Ayesha Ghosh shortly after. Together, they opened W+K's Mumbai office and oversaw creative and business operations across Mumbai and Delhi. Combined, both offices won new business and created campaigns for brands including Vida from Hero Motocorp, Jindal's Steel of Oman, Jockey's Freedom or Nothing, G Shock's Rise Above the Shocks, Hero Cycles' Cycle Hero Hai, Clove Dental's Whistle, and Brownkind skin care, among others.

W+K said its Delhi branch employees will report directly to global leadership. "Delhi employees will report into global leadership as we are not rehiring leadership to replace Paddy and Ayesha, and we will be closing the Mumbai office. For the foreseeable future, we won't be taking on client opportunities in Delhi or Mumbai," Wieden+Kennedy said in an official statement.

The company concluded by saying, "It's not totally out of the realm of possibility that we will ramp back up again in the future."