In a MediaBrief exclusive, Rohan Mehta, Chief Transformation Officer, Omnicom Advertising India, speaks about how advertising is undergoing a structural shift, expanding far beyond traditional communication into a connected ecosystem that spans media, CX, influencer marketing, commerce, and AI. He discusses what this means for agencies today, particularly the need to stay relevant across an increasingly diverse set of brand touchpoints while continuing to strengthen core capabilities such as strategy, creativity, and brand building.
Mehta also shares his perspective on Omnicom’s Plus model and how it is designed to enable seamless access to capabilities across the network without disrupting the agency-client relationship. He reflects on the growing role of AI in transforming how work is done, with platforms like Omni acting as a connected operating system for real-time learning and collaboration. He further draws from his experience of building Kinnect, offering insights on talent, evolution, and what it takes to scale an agency in a rapidly changing industry.
Agency leadership has changed fundamentally. Driven by AI, martech evolution, and client demand for integrated solutions, success is no longer about mastering a single discipline. It is about speed, adaptability, and delivering seamless outcomes across complex ecosystems. Few understand this transformation better than Rohan Mehta.
Over the course of 14 years, he helped build Kinnect from a three-person startup into one of India’s most awarded digital agencies, growing the business to more than 600 employees and earning 11 Cannes Lions along the way.
Earlier this year, Mehta stepped into a newly created role: Chief Transformation Officer at Omnicom Advertising India. Tasked with driving collaboration, agility, and collective strength across the network’s diverse agency brands, he reflects on his first few months in the position.
Describing the scale of change underway, Mehta says, “Advertising today has evolved so drastically from what it was a few years back and many years back. It’s gone far beyond communication. Today, advertising extends across media, CX, influencer, AI, commerce. And it’s so important for us as agencies to show up across a much larger spectrum of what’s happening in this space,”
He continues, “At the core, we have to preserve what we are really good at, which is deep strategic thinking, creative execution, and the ability to build brands. But to do that in a modern way, to do that in a way that is relevant to customers today and relevant to clients today.”
The ‘Plus Model’: Less a structure, more a mindset
In his current role, Mehta is responsible for identifying and mapping existing capabilities within Omnicom Advertising India, scaling high-performing ones, and ensuring seamless client access through the network’s agencies.
Elaborating on this mandate, he explains, “Omnicom is now the largest advertising network in the world. It’s important that you are able to lead the charge in terms of where advertising and marketing is going. Practically, it’s about mapping all the capabilities that exist, scaling the ones that are doing really well, and making all of them accessible seamlessly to the clients through the Plus model.”
As part of the mandate, Mehta liaises with the central pillar of Omnicom Advertising’s operating philosophy: the Plus model, which he describes as less of a structure and more of a mindset. He emphasizes this point, saying, “The Plus model is a way of thinking” he says. It’s the way in which we integrate within the agencies at Omnicom.”
At its heart, Omnicom Advertising’s ‘Plus Model’ is an operating framework designed to integrate disjointed agency capabilities (like data, CRM, AI, and creative) while keeping a client’s core agency relationship intact. It allows brands to access the network’s full expertise seamlessly, under the premise that the client only sees “the one agency they were already working with.”
Essentially, different agencies across the network have built specialized expertise over time, either in response to client needs or through proactive innovation. Mehta’s role is to ensure that this knowledge flows freely across the organization.
As he puts it, “My job is to make sure that the knowledge and know-how of all of this moves seamlessly across all 4,000 people. Where something is doing really well, and if it can be accessed and provided to a client, then my job is to make sure those connections exist.”
He adds, “Omnicom is usually not the person they are signing up with. They are signing up with a BBDO, a TBWA, a Kinnect. So it’s not forced collaboration or about mishmashing things together.”
Mehta adds, “For the client, it remains the agency they are talking to. It remains their primary point of contact. But only now, equipped with a lot more things onto the table.”
Lessons from building Kinnect
Mehta’s approach to this broader mandate is shaped by the entrepreneurial journey that defined his career at Kinnect. Reflecting on that journey, he says: “Kinnect is pretty much my entire professional journey. It’s 15 out of the 17 years that I’ve worked.
He adds, “At the core of the stuff that we have built at kinnect is a deep appreciation for talent. It’s a deep appreciation for evolution. It’s a deep appreciation for where advertising is going to be, not where it was, but where it’s going to be.”
He continues, drawing a contrast between then and now: “We never, at least for many years, were backed by a big name. We didn’t have a lot of experience in space. Today we have access to some of the best talent in the industry. So if you can do it without all of that backing whether financially, through experience, or through reputation now when you have some of the most reputed agencies out there, the job becomes that much more fun.”
Even as Mehta transitions into his broader leadership role, he remains closely connected to Kinnect’s future. He explains the scale of his new role simply: “The platform is just much bigger.”
Using a cricket analogy, he compares the transition to progressing through increasingly larger stages of competition. He says, “You’re playing for your school, then your college, then your state, then the IPL. This is the big game.”
He also takes pride in the leadership structure that Kinnect has built over the years. Mehta says, “We’ve got Gaurav leading our business. We’ve got Neville leading creative. We’ve got Ankit leading capabilities. And now Chandni is leading the organisation as CEO. I think it’s in fantastic hands.”
Reflecting on legacy, he adds: “They say it’s good if the organisation is doing really well while you build it. It’s amazing if it’s doing really well while you’re not managing it on a day-to-day basis.”
AI as the nervous system of modern advertising
Moving on from the past to the future—and since no conversation about the future is possible without the mention of AI—Mehta acknowledges that artificial intelligence has become impossible to ignore in discussions around marketing transformation. However, he believes Omnicom’s approach goes beyond simply adopting new tools.
Mehta explains that one of Omnicom’s most significant investments has been in Omni and Omni AI, the group’s marketing intelligence platform that connects data, strategy, creative, media, and commerce capabilities across the network. Launched earlier this year, Omni functions as a connected operating system for the organization.
As Mehta describes it, “Omni is like the nervous system that connects all of Omnicom. The same data, the same access, the learnings from strategy to creative to production to account management—are all parsed through this single platform.”
Elaborating on the real-time advantage of the platform he says, “We don’t need to wait now for learnings because when campaigns are running, live data is being fed into this. We have live learnings coming out of it, and those learnings can be passed across anyone that’s working, multi-country, multi-agency, while maintaining that the client’s data is managed in an extremely brand-safe manner.”
Beyond technology infrastructure, Omnicom is also heavily investing in workforce readiness. Elaborating on this, he says, “Upskilling is happening every week. We have two to three sessions happening across the entire organisation. We have training sessions, knowledge-building sessions, questions getting answered because things are changing so drastically,”
For Mehta, AI remains in its infancy. He adds, “We are still at the early stages of AI. Every two months, something new comes in. There is a strong response to make sure those technologies are vetted, partnered with, and then made accessible to everyone.”
Also read: Omnicom unveils next-generation Omni platform integrating AI, data, and connected capabilities
Why size doesn’t determine opportunity
While Omnicom serves some of the world’s largest brands, Mehta rejects the notion that scale alone determines opportunity. As he explains, “It’s not about only serving the large organisations while that does remain a big focus. It’s about the kind of work people are expecting and the quality of the problem that is put in front of the agency.”
He points to the long-term brand-building legacy of Omnicom agencies. Citing enduring relationships, he says, “Some of the brands which are so large today have been built from day one. Britannia relationships go back decades. Fastrack has been built from the ground up. Amul goes back decades.”
Looking ahead, he adds, “There will always be new relationships that are simmering, which will become the big brands of tomorrow.”
Why agencies must move beyond deliverables
As agencies navigate an increasingly complex landscape, many are being forced to rethink how they define and deliver value. Between 2019 and 2025, many marketers assembled sprawling ecosystems of specialist partners across performance, media, influencer marketing, CX, and AI. On this point, Mehta believes the pendulum is beginning to swing back.
He explains the shifting client mindset: “CMOs are done with that. They’re not wanting ten different agencies. We need to move away from campaigns and deliverables to business problems and business outcomes.”
In a world shaped by economic uncertainty, geopolitical disruption, and changing consumer behavior, Mehta believes every marketing investment must justify itself. He states firmly, “Every rupee needs to deliver some outcome.”
He then expands on what that means in practice: “Everything has to be performed at the end of the day. You are trying to drive a business outcome either to grow the brand or grow the business. Money has not disappeared from marketing. It has simply moved from campaigns and communications to other things. Money moves where outcomes move, and it’s our job to traverse that journey along with clients.”
The excitement of constant learning
While much of the industry’s focus today is on AI, integration, and business transformation, Mehta believes sustained growth begins with a simpler mindset—remaining curious and open to learning. He ultimately returns to a more personal motivation: learning.
In an industry changing at unprecedented speed, he sees opportunity rather than uncertainty. As Mehta puts it, “The more you know, the less you know.”
That paradox, he says, is what makes advertising such a rewarding profession. He adds, “There’s a new problem to solve every single day.”
For Mehta, the role represents not only an opportunity to help shape the future of Omnicom Advertising India, but also a chance to continue growing himself. He concludes, “I am an optimist when it comes to advertising. When there is change, there is time to evolve and adapt.”
And perhaps that mindset captures the larger moment facing the industry itself—one where agencies that successfully combine creativity, technology, integration, and business thinking will be best positioned to lead the next era of marketing.
