Nitin Karkare inherits Ulka after merger reorganisation

MUMBAI: When global advertising giants collide, careers get crushed and brands get binned. Nitin Karkare has emerged from the Omnicom-IPG merger reorganisation with a promotion—and a legacy agency that has just lost its surname.

The 38-year veteran has been named chairman of Ulka and executive director at Omnicom Advertising India, a double-barrelled title that reflects both his longevity and the awkwardness of integrating two feuding empires. The catch? Ulka is no longer FCB Ulka. The FCB brand has been retired globally, and the agency Karkare has called home since 1986 now sits under the BBDO group. It is a bit like waking up to find your house has been moved to a different neighbourhood whilst you slept.

Karkare joined FCB Ulka as a management trainee fresh out of business school and never really left—save for a brief sortie to Everest Advertising in the early 1990s, where he managed the Procter & Gamble account before scurrying back to Ulka in 1993. He was named chief executive in 2016, a role he has held through industry upheaval, digital disruption, and now corporate consolidation. Colleagues describe him as calm and composed, which is advertising-speak for “doesn’t panic when the roof caves in.”

His client roster reads like a who’s who of Indian corporate life: Amul, Tata Motors, Zee, ITC, Wipro, Zodiac. These are not accounts you hand to the ambitious upstart. They are the sort of relationships that take decades to build and require the patience of a man who reads Tom Clancy, Robert Ludlum and Frederick Forsyth for fun. Karkare, by all accounts, is that man.

The broader restructuring sees Prasoon Joshi elevated to chairman of Omnicom Advertising India, whilst Aditya Kanthy becomes president and managing director, taking operational command of the merged entity’s India business. Both will report to Sean Donovan, president of the global operation. S Subramanyeswar (known as Subbu, because Indian advertising loves a nickname) takes on dual duties as chief strategy officer for India and chief knowledge officer for Asia. It is a reshuffle that signals serious integration intent.

The Omnicom-IPG merger, announced earlier this year, has triggered a global realignment as the combined entity eliminates overlap and consolidates its creative networks under BBDO, TBWA and McCann. In India, that means saying goodbye to FCB and hello to a new organisational chart. Whether clients notice—or care—remains to be seen.

For Karkare, the appointment is both validation and challenge. He gets to steer Ulka through its most significant identity crisis in decades whilst navigating the politics of a freshly merged holding company. If his four decades of steady hands-on leadership are any guide, he will manage it with the same unflappable demeanour that has defined his career. If not, well, there is always another thriller to read.