In a time when advertising is being reshaped by technology, changing consumer behaviour, and fragmented media, Amitesh Rao, CEO South Asia of Leo (formerly Leo Burnett), believes the industry is finally catching up to a transformation it has long delayed. Speaking about the evolving creative ecosystem, Rao said the recent wave of mergers and acquisitions across holding companies is only one part of a deeper shift. According to him, these consolidations reflect an industry that is rearchitecting itself, not merely rebranding or resizing.
“This industry has needed to dramatically transform itself for a very long time. That transformation is now happening, and that’s a great thing for us,” Rao said. He sees the current moment as an inflection point that demands a new kind of agency, one that is no longer reliant on legacy structures or individual creative stars but is instead powered by shared culture and collaborative thinking.
That shift in mindset is partly why Leo Burnett has now become simply Leo. “We are not Leo Burnett anymore, we are Leo,” Rao explained. The change in name marks a departure from being centered around one person to being driven by a collective culture and purpose. “The age of the personality-led creative agency is gone. Now it's about culture-led creation.”
Rao acknowledged that Indian advertising today often faces criticism for not producing the kind of memorable campaigns that defined previous decades. But he challenged the idea that the work has become less impactful. “It’s not about the lack of talent. We have some of the best creative and strategic minds in the world,” he said. Instead, he pointed to the shift in how brand messages are consumed. “We used to watch 15 ads a week. Now we see 15,000 pieces of brand messaging a day. The iconic line may not stick, but the brand’s belief system does.”
This is especially true for Gen-Z consumers, who Rao believes are not loyal to brands but to beliefs. In such an environment, it becomes important to define what the brand stands for and then communicate that belief system across multiple touchpoints rather than relying on a single creative device or recurring format. “Don’t obsess about one character or one tone. Obsess about the brand’s belief system,” he said.
Rao described Leo’s creative approach as fluid and distributed, responding to the modern demands of storytelling. “The world is moving from telling one story in 30 seconds to telling the same story across 100 points of time,” he said. He cited the rise of one-minute webisodes from Korea as an example of how narratives are adapting to shorter attention spans and multi-screen viewing habits. In this new reality, agencies must deliver coherence across platforms without being rigid about form.
At the structural level, Leo has embraced a collaborative ecosystem that brings in diverse skill sets and disciplines. “We’re not territorial about creativity. We work with aerospace engineers, dentists, gamers, architects and whoever brings strong creative thinking to the table,” Rao said. “Craft is no longer the entry barrier. Thinking is.” He described the agency’s core creative talent as the R&D function, which integrates with experts across commerce, tech, architecture, and design depending on the problem being solved.
Leo’s belief in inclusive development, according to Rao, is not just philosophical, it is also strategic. “We are a we agency, not a me agency. People who are ‘me’ don’t really belong here,” he said.
This openness, he believes, has contributed to the agency being recognised in global rankings for creative effectiveness. “There’s a lot of big work we did on our mainstream clients on the back of which these recognitions are coming to us,” he said. The work that gets awarded, he stressed, is not just creatively strong but also demonstrably effective for brands and businesses.
Looking ahead, Rao underscored the need for agencies to hold on to clarity of brand belief while adapting everything else around it. “Hold the core belief tightly. Let everything else be fluid,” he said. That adaptability, coupled with a collaborative spirit, is what he sees as central to agency success in a post-personality, post-format creative economy.
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