Aditya was born in a military family, where he moved homes every couple of years. The constant travelling, new places and living in villages and towns across the country, helped him develop a deep sense of empathy and an appreciation of culture at a young age.
These early influences translated into advertising as a career choice. He started his journey with the erstwhile Mudra in 2003 as a strategic planner, taking on various responsibilities over the years including that of the Chief Strategy Officer, a role in which he helped shape India’s most successful independent advertising agency into an Omnicom-owned integrated marketing communications group.
He has overseen globally recognized Diversity, Equity & Inclusion initiatives like ‘The Phyllis India Project’ that builds and develops a community of women leaders; and ‘Open Pride’ that focuses on respectful representation in creative work and an inclusive work environment for the LGBTQIA+ community & allies. DDB Mudra Group was the first agency in India to include same sex & live-in partners in medical insurance, the first to offer professional mental health resources years before the conversation became mainstream; and provides best-in-class paternity leave to enable equal parenting.
As a strategist and then as the head of the agency, his work has been awarded at Cannes, WARC, D&AD, Spikes Asia and the Effies across categories including a Gold in 2021 for Audience Insight and Creative Strategy at Cannes. In 2022, DDB Mudra Group was recognised as Spikes Asia’s regional Agency of the Year – a first for an Indian company. In 2023, DDB Worldwide was crowned Cannes Network of the Year, with the India office winning Lions five years in a row, for the first time in its history. Aditya has represented India on global and national forums, most recently as a juror for Creative Effectiveness at Cannes 2023.
Aditya graduated with honors in Economics at St. Stephen’s College, Delhi and is a gold medalist from MICA, Ahmedabad. He lives in Mumbai with his wife and enjoys seeing the world afresh through the eyes of his young son.