Infectious Advertising has appointed Abhijit Karandikar as Executive Creative Director, adding an art direction veteran with more than three decades in advertising to its creative leadership.
The appointment
Karandikar began his career with stints at Everest Advertising and Interact Vision and spent more than two decades at Ogilvy & Mather. Across that career, he has worked on Mondelez, Castrol, Pond’s, Star Plus, Star Sports, Tata Sumo, Amaron Batteries, Taj Mahal Tea, BCCI and the Indian Ministry of Health.
His work has earned more than 40 national and international awards, including recognition at Cannes Lions, The One Show, London International Awards, Spikes Asia, Effies, Kyoorius and Goafest. His work has also appeared in Lürzer’s Archive, Communication Arts, Graphis Annual USA and The Work.
Outside advertising, Karandikar has pursued calligraphy and experimental visual design, with original works exhibited in the Netherlands and at Mumbai’s Nehru Centre.
What leadership says
“Great art always lifts the work to the next level,” said founders Nisha Singhania and Ramanuj Shastry.
Karandikar said he is excited to work alongside “industry legends like Ramanuj, Nisha and Siddharth” and to collaborate with Chief Creative Officer Akshay Kapnadak, whose work he has admired. Kapnadak added that the agency hopes to win “awards, accounts and, most importantly, client admiration” with him.
Why marketers should notice
For a mid-sized Indian agency, a senior creative hire of this profile is a statement of intent. While performance marketing and automation soak up budgets, craft-led creative remains a differentiator, especially when a leader has both creative recognition and effectiveness credentials.
Karandikar’s mix of mainstream brand work and a personal practice in calligraphy and experimental visual design is uncommon. It gives Infectious a leader who can speak both brand language and craft-led storytelling, useful when clients want distinction rather than just distribution.
What to watch
- Ask how senior creative time is actually allocated across your account.
- Look for evidence of effectiveness wins, not just creative trophies.
- Track whether campaign craft visibly improves, rather than credentials alone.
The next proof point will be the work.
Source: MediaNews4U
