Dentsu India launches Slingshot; Kunal Dubey, Lucky Saini to lead Division

Dentsu India, from the house of Dentsu Aegis Network, has announced the launch of Dentsu India Slingshot. To be led by Kunal Dubey and Lucky Saini as Country Heads, this latest outfit from brand Dentsu India will provide specialised marketing and digital solutions in the areas of digital strategy, brand play book and media play book. It will also design and develop communications roadmap and advertising campaigns for clients across platforms. Dubey and Saini will be based out of Bengaluru and will report into Dentsu India CEO, Simi Sabhaney. 

In a career spanning over a decade each, Dubey and Saini bring extensive experience in brand strategy, media planning, digital media and marketing. Prior to launching Dentsu India Slingshot, both Dubey and Saini were with Flipkart for over four years. 

Simi Sabahaney, CEO, Dentsu India, said, “Yes, it was apparent that we at Dentsu India needed to go beyond our current expertise. We needed to enhance our offering to our clients by providing them with solutions that were geared for new-age platforms. When I met Lucky and Kunal, I could sniff their ambition, hunger, passion, knowledge and above all the two different skill sets they could bring to the table. The duo was too potent to be ignored! And thus, began the journey of Dentsu India Slingshot.” 

Dubey and Saini have held various roles in the marketing team at Flipkart and have managed all its marketing efforts - from leading marketing campaigns for Flipkart’s Big Billion Days to managing the e-commerce giant’s large-scale brand campaigns. In fact, multiple campaigns that the duo worked on at Flipkart went on to win several awards nationally and internationally, including Cannes and Spikes Asia. 

In their last role, Dubey was Director – Marketing and Head of Media at Flipkart, while Saini was Associate Director, Brand Marketing. 

Lucky Saini, VP Digital & Marketing Solutions, Dentsu India Slingshot, said, “This new venture represents the changing face of agency model in India. Brand building in today’s era needs a ‘solutions’ mindset. The need of the hour is to provide holistic thinking and capabilities across media, research, technology and advertising. I am very excited to play a role in shaping the future of the advertising industry in India.” 

Kunal Dubey, VP and Head of Business, Dentsu India Slingshot, added here, “We aim to be a specialist that identifies opportunities that fundamentally change the way consumers interact with brands and feel about them; and in the process, lead to higher efficiency and impact in brand building efforts and spends. Our team will comprise experts from various disciplines like design, creative storytelling, media planning, digital marketing, martech and brand management.” 

Dubey and Saini come with a keen understanding of how brands are built on both digital and non-digital channels and together, they have played an important role in building brands such as Flipkart, Ebay, McDonalds, Reliance, Ogilvy and Manipal Education.