Mumbai : Lowe veteran, Joseph (Joe) George, currently Group CEO of the Mullen Lowe Lintas Group in India, adds South & Southeast Asia responsibilities to his current remit. The appointment is effective immediately, and Joe will report to Alex Leikikh, Global CEO, Mullen Lowe Group.
Joe has been with the Lowe network for 24 years – joining Lintas Mumbai in 1991 and spending the next 15 years between the Mumbai and Bangalore offices. Joe took over as the head of the Unilever business in 2006, and successfully led the growth of that business and a few specialist marketing services divisions until his appointment as Deputy CEO in June 2010, and subsequently as CEO in January 2011.
During his tenure as Group CEO in India, Joe has led the agency to huge success within India, across the APAC region and on a global stage. On marketing effectiveness, Mullen Lowe Lintas Group has won over 50 major awards in the last year alone, including being ranked the Most Effective Agency in India and APAC according to the Effie Effectiveness Index 2015, named APAC Agency of the Year at AMES and Tambuli Awards, and winning India’s only Creative Effectiveness Grand Prix at Spikes Asia.
The agency is also credited with many firsts for India including, number one Creative Agency in the World and Most Effective Campaign by WARC 100, consecutive double-wins at 4A’s Jay Chiat Awards and runner up for AdAge International Agency of the Year 2015. The agency prides itself on the best body of creative work in the country, developed consistently on a portfolio of over 200 brands, while being the country’s best performer on new business wins. This momentum has been created under Joe’s leadership while delivering 3 consecutive years of high double-digit profit growth.
Joe commented on the India agency’s success: ‘We re-focused our creative product to make it the centre of everything we do. We got a lot more strategic and aggressive in our new business pursuit and we were relentless in our obsession with delivering disproportionate ROI to our clients. These three pillars have been the key to our success both financially as well as in attracting and retaining the best clients and talent available in the industry”
Alex Leikikh, Global CEO, Mullen Lowe Group, commented on the appointment: “Joe is exactly the leader we need as part of our hugely dynamic Asia operation – he is a seasoned professional with a proven track record of growth. A key component of his role will focus on tapping into the resources of the robust India operation that he has built up in order to develop our hyperbundled offering across the Southeast Asia markets.”
Joe added: “I’m absolutely thrilled by the challenge of taking on an additional leadership role within the APAC region for the Mullen Lowe Group. Having worked within the network for over two decades, I clearly love the spirit: distinctive, entrepreneurial, collaborative and creative.”
George started out in the business with Leo Burnett in 1990, before joining Lowe a year later.
