One hundred days into his role as CEO of BBDO Group India, Jitender Dabas has made an interesting observation. Despite the scale of the organisation he now leads, much of the industry still doesn’t fully recognise its size.
In a conversation with IMPACT Magazine, Dabas described BBDO Group India as a ‘hidden giant’ whose scale has emerged through the consolidation of BBDO India, Ulka and Mudra. He adds, “Overnight, what was a 100-people-strong BBDO became a network of more than 500 – 600 people.”
That transformation has brought together three storied agency brands—BBDO, Ulka and Mudra—under one umbrella, creating a network that serves some of India’s most iconic companies, including Amul, ITC, Tata Motors and ICICI, alongside global brands such as Mars, P&G, Meta, McDonald’s and Royal Enfield.
For Dabas, the opportunity lies not in creating a single agency identity but in harnessing the strengths of each brand. “The opportunity is not to make them the same. It’s about picking the best of everything and taking it across the group,” he says.
Watch the full interview here:
Each agency brings a distinct advantage. BBDO contributes the creative reputation of a global powerhouse, while Ulka brings decades-long relationships with some of India’s most respected businesses. Mudra, meanwhile, offers deep insight into Indian enterprise and the ambitions of rapidly scaling homegrown companies.
What has surprised Dabas most during his first 100 days is how naturally the cultures have aligned. “I felt that culture would take the longest time to come together. That’s the part that’s taking the least amount of time,” he says.
The decision to retain the Ulka and Mudra brands, rather than fold everything into BBDO, was deliberate. “It’s time for India,” Dabas says. “There are Indian companies now going global. There are thousands of businesses trying to go from Rs 200 crore to Rs 2,000 crore. It creates a need for homegrown agencies that can partner with those brands.”
Dabas believes the group’s future will be built on strengths that already exist within its agencies. “Ulka has industry’s perhaps the best entry-level recruitment programme called Star One,” he says, referring to the agency’s long-running talent development initiative. “Mudra perhaps has some of the best people policies in the industry.” For Dabas, the task now is to scale these strengths across the network while leveraging BBDO’s global creative capabilities.
While AI continues to dominate industry conversations, Dabas is wary of viewing the technology purely through the lens of efficiency. “Every AI conversation seems to be about efficiencies, cost reduction and timelines. I have a different approach,” he says. “Every new technology is a multiplier.”
For him, the larger challenge facing agencies today is reinforcing the value they bring to clients. “Brands will remain the unfair advantage that clients will have,” he says. “For agencies, creativity will be the unfair advantage in solving problems.”
As BBDO Group India enters its next phase, Dabas is betting that the combination of scale, strong agency brands and creative firepower will make the industry’s ‘hidden giant’ impossible to ignore.
