MullenLowe Archives

November 30, 2023

Unilever brands and Softlogic Life feature strongly in the line-up of awards

The country’s leading Brand Communications Company – MullenLowe Sri Lanka was awarded the Most Effective Agency for 2022/23 at a gala event on Tuesday night an award it jointly shares with Dentsu in a tie of points. The company came back strong this year to clinch the top spot after falling short by just two marks when they became runners-up the previous year breaking a stronghold which they have dominated the past decade. MullenLowe achieved the rare feat of being the only company to win the title three years in a row when they cleared the awards in 2019, 2020 and 2021 and have collectively won the title six times in just the past eight years alone.

MullenLowe Sri Lanka is widely recognised for its astute creative work with a high level of strategic leverage that it creates for brands. Thayalan Bartlett the Chief Executive Officer of the MullenLowe Group said “Advertising is very simply about staying true to people, ideas, and brands. We are fortunate to be blessed with some of the very best talent who create, effective and distinctive work for one of the most sought-after brand portfolios in the country. I am immensely delighted for our people, brands and clients who deserve to be in this spotlight.”

With an average age of 30 years, MullenLowe is staffed with immensely talented young thinkers, who are led by two highly acclaimed creative leaders and eight strategic business leaders who manage 80% of the top 10 and 50% of the top 20 most advertised categories and brands in the country. MullenLowe is a melting pot of ideas, cultures, brands, and people. This singularly contributes to the richness of our creative culture and diversity making us a very different breed of advertising professionals. Such consistent recognition is only a manifestation of the values we represent and the kind of company we truly are said Thayalan.

Dilshara Jayamanne – Senior Vice President and Chief Creative Officer of the MullenLowe Group said “As Sri Lanka heroically recovers from a perfect storm of crises the importance of doing the best work that makes an exponential impact in the market becomes more important than ever. This award is a testament to our commitment to delivering exactly that.”

“I always believe ‘effective’ advertising is like high octane fuel for brands and I am deeply honoured to be a part of a strong creative culture that consistently produces impactful and effective work, especially in the face of challenging economic conditions” said Harendra Uyanage Vice-President and Executive Director of the MullenLowe Group.

The MullenLowe Group (MLG) is Sri Lanka’s largest marketing communications group. Supported by eight independently managed strategic verticals – MullenLowe, LoweLintas, LoweDigital, LoweTech, LoweActive, LowePublic, LoweMedia and LoweGo the group is well represented across categories covering FMCG, Banking & Finance, Insurance, Leisure, Mobile & Broadband, Tech, Fintech, Enterprise Solutions, Milk based foods, Beauty, Personal and Home Care, Carbonated, Energy and Fresh Drinks, Packaged Foods & Biscuits and Sanitary Pads to name a few. By the sheer representation of diverse industries, the Group draws on a vast amount of category knowledge making it the most influential brand communications group in the country. MullenLowe Sri Lanka is a full member affiliate of MullenLowe Worldwide headquartered out of Boston and is part of a network of 95 global offices across 65 markets. MullenLowe Worldwide employs 6400+ people around the world.

September 8, 2023

· Global CMO for Meta & Former WPP Grey Advertising UK, FD also named.

MullenLowe Sri Lanka, one of Sri Lanka’s game-changing brand communication companies has appointed top professionals from Sri Lanka and overseas to its directorate to transform and lead the company into the future.

On board are Dr Sohan Dharmarajah, Mr Eshan Ponnudurai, Mr Marc Santi and Mr Harendra Uyanage. Marc and Eshan replace outgoing directors Mr Virat Tandon and Mr Vivek Kamath from MullenLowe India whilst Sohan and Harendra are new additions to the board. With these appointments, the new board at MullenLowe Sri Lanka will consist of Mr Dilshara Jayamanne – Sr. Vice President & Chief Creative Officer, Mr Nasser Mohammed – Vice President & Finance Director, Dr Sohan Dharmaraja – Vice President & Director MarTech Services, Mr Thayalan Bartlett – Director & Chief Executive Officer, Mr Marc Santi– Non-Executive Director, Eshan Ponnadurai – Non- Executive Director and Mr Harendra Uyanage – Vice President & Executive Creative Director.

The above appointments at MullenLowe are strategic in nature and key to drawing on global & local expertise to prime the company to meet the transitionary phase of the industry which is rapidly evolving with technology at the core of its offerings. The company is already ahead of the game in Sri Lanka and will soon be looking at exporting some of its services to overseas markets.

Commenting on the appointments, Thayalan Bartlett Chief Executive Officer of MullenLowe Group Sri Lanka said, “As a company, we have been divesting our identity as an “agency” and investing in being an idea-centric and tech-driven business accelerator for clients. We will be increasingly dependent on data to make time-sensitive and mission-critical decisions for brands in the future and we want to be prepared for it. The journey has just begun, the people are in place and we look ahead with much anticipation as we begin to make these changes to our offering.”

Dilshara Jayamanna, also known as Dilly, is an unconventional creative with a diverse background in music, filmmaking, and advertising. As the Chief Creative Officer at MullenLowe, he has led the agency to win multiple prestigious awards, including Effie Sri Lanka Agency of the Year and Campaign magazine’s Rest of South Asia Creative Agency of the Year.

Dr Sohan Dharmaraja is a mathematician by training and an innovative problem-solver with advanced degrees from MIT and Stanford. He leads marketing technology at MullenLowe Sri Lanka. His work gained global recognition, featured by BBC and NPR. His previous roles include algorithmic trading at Goldman Sachs and US Defense projects and to his credit he has developed and sold technology to Apple.

Marc Santhi is a Fellow of the Chartered Association of Certified Accountants and is the CEO of Eleanor Healthcare Group of Companies, a leading social care provider in the United Kingdom. Before this, Marc was one of the youngest Finance Directors at WPP’s Grey Advertising Group and GCI, both in the UK. He later founded his own successful accounting and business consultancy, APT, which has now grown to become one of Southeast London’s largest firms. Under Marc’s leadership since 2005, Eleanor Healthcare Group has evolved into a group of companies that provide a range of health and social care services, including Care Homes, Home Care branches, Patient Transport, and Hospital Logistics that offer vital support to major London hospitals. With over 1500 employees, the group now stands as London’s largest provider of community care services.

Thayalan, an accomplished advertising professional has steered and transformed MullenLowe into a highly successful company through very challenging times. He established autonomous strategic verticals and championed the cause of gender diversity and employee empowerment. Under his leadership, MullenLowe achieved consistent growth and has been rated Globally, in APAC and Locally with MullenLowe being the only agency to win Agency Of The Year consecutively for 3 years in Sri Lanka. Before being appointed CEO of MullenLowe, Thayalan was CEO of WPP’s J Walter Thompson (JWT) Sri Lanka and was subsequently appointed to lead J Walter Thompson Indonesia. During his time at JWT, he led the company to many successes in awards and business recognition and was awarded WPP’s Atticus Award for advertising by Sir Martin Sorrell.

Eshan is the Global Marketing Head for Meta based out of New York. He is a highly respected Business Leader who has thrived in growing businesses from startups to giants like Uber, Airbnb, YouTube, and WhatsApp. Before his foray into the Marketing Tech space, he held regional roles for P&G based out of Singapore. Currently, he holds dual leadership roles at Meta Platforms while advising startups and serving a non-profit and was named in the TOP 50 Entrepreneurial CMOs by Forbes Magazine in 2023.

Nasser is a proficient controller with a strong financial background in advertising. He has excelled in his role as Vice President and Finance Director at MullenLowe. His amiable personality is no cover when it comes to demonstrating sound expertise and a high level of integrity in his area of work. Before his appointment at MullenLowe, he was the Vice President & Finance Director of J Walter Thompson in Sri Lanka (JWT)

Dedicated to continually raising the bar, Harendra is a uniquely creative individual who ardently admires the art of filmmaking. His profound understanding of the language of film has facilitated the creation of iconic works for the country’s most prominent brands. His work has also earned recognition through numerous awards and accolades, including his key contributions to MullenLowe, which led to the agency winning the Agency of the Year at the Effies over the years.

The MullenLowe Group (MLG) is one of Sri Lanka’s largest marketing communications groups. The company, which until recently was owned by the US-based Interpublic Group (IPG) and transitioned to local ownership, is a full member affiliate of MullenLowe Worldwide and part of a network of 95 global offices across 65 markets. MullenLowe Worldwide employs, 6400+ people around the world with the Sri Lanka office alone staffing close to 90 employees and is set to expand further. The Sri Lanka Office is well represented across categories covering FMCG, Banking & Finance, Insurance, Leisure, Mobile & Broadband, Fintech, Enterprise Solutions, Milk based foods, Beauty & Personal and Home Care, Carbonated, Energy and Fresh Drinks, Packaged Foods & Biscuits and Sanitary Pads to name a few. This extensive portfolio comes together to dominate 80% of the top 10 and 50% of the top 20 advertised categories in the country. By the sheer representation of diverse industries, the Group draws on a vast amount of category knowledge making it the most influential brand communications group in the country.

June 20, 2023

June 20, 2023 – Praveena Perera – Associate Vice President & Group Account Director from MullenLowe was recognised as an emerging woman leader and is this year’s recipient of the award for ‘Leadership in the field of Advertising & Public Relations Sector’ at the “Top50 Professional & Career Women Global Awards – Thirteenth Edition” organised by Women in Management (WIM).

She received her award at the Global Awards Ceremony held on the 17th of June at the Shangri-La Colombo. The event celebrated and awarded twenty other international award winners representing 15 countries.

Commenting on her recognition, Praveena Perera – Associate Vice President & Group Account Director from MullenLowe avers, “While women make up over 50% of our population, their representation in the workforce remains disproportionately low. Within the ad industry, this disparity becomes even more pronounced, largely due to the insufficient progress made at organisational levels that foster women’s professional growth. Many organisations claim to empower women, yet their actions often amount to mere checkboxes to fulfil policies. In this regard, I take immense pride in stating that MullenLowe Sri Lanka is a company that truly walks the talk. The company stands as one of my strongest pillars of strength and has consistently backed me at every step, providing unwavering support and creating numerous opportunities for me to thrive on my chosen path. I also want to express my heartfelt appreciation to WIM, for acknowledging my accomplishments and honouring me with their prestigious award.”

Thayalan Bartlett – Chief Executive Officer of MullenLowe Group Sri Lanka said “Praveena is one of Sri Lanka’s top emerging women leaders in advertising and I am immensely delighted because her recognition augments well for the Advertising industry and as much what it means to MullenLowe. There is a dearth of future women leadership hopefuls in advertising and the industry is woefully short of meaningfully supporting women ad professionals. We need the industry to step up and rise beyond the rhetoric and truly support women ad professionals to balance their work-life and reward them equitably so that they realise their full potential at home and in the office. Praveena epitomises all of what a woman professional should be by balancing her role as a young mother and a leading ad professional in an extremely demanding field.”

Women in Management (WIM) in collaboration with Women in Work, a partnership between the International Finance Corporation (IFC) and the Government of Australia, conduct the Top50 Professional & Career Women Global Awards. This award highlights and honours women in the national, regional, and global economy and celebrates their achievements, experience, and creativity in leading their institutions, professions, and businesses efficiently and effectively.

March 7, 2022

MullenLowe Sri Lanka held up its reign as the ‘Most Effective Agency’ for the third consecutive year with its win of the coveted main award at the 2020/21 Effie Awards held recently, becoming the first ever agency to achieve this remarkable feat. This fresh accolade comes on top of the Sri Lanka office of IPG’s MullenLowe Group, being placed 36^th most effective agency in the World and within the top 10 effective advertising offices in APAC, according to the Effie ranking released in 2019/20.

Emerging as the most awarded agency of the event, MullenLowe Sri Lanka was honored with 16 awards – 1 Gold, 2 Silver, 3 Bronze, 8 Finalists, and 1 contributing agency award as well, culminating in being awarded the esteemed ‘Agency of the Year’ award. Moreover, the agency also proved its outstanding contribution towards its clients, Unilever Sri Lanka and Softlogic Life Insurance, that walked away with the ‘Marketer of The Year’ and the ‘Brand of the Year’ awards respectively.

In a joint statement, commenting on the award, Nilushi Jayatileke – Marketing Director – Beauty and Personal Care and Head of Corporate Communications, and Sharmila Bandara – Marketing Director – Home Care, Foods & Refreshments and Water, Unilever Sri Lanka said, “With advertising being an essential discipline for effective consumer marketing, MullenLowe Sri Lanka supports us with messaging that resonates with consumers and deepens the bond these consumers have with our brands. As such, we would like to convey our heartiest congratulations to MullenLowe on being named ‘Effective Agency of the Year’ for the commendable work they have carried out”.

Speaking on this remarkable victory, Thayalan Bartlett – Chief Executive Officer, MullenLowe Sri Lanka said, “We value the Effie Awards highly, as it is a marker of the outstanding value we bring to our clients. Winning the ‘Effie Agency of The Year’, for the third consecutive year, shows just how consistent MullenLowe Sri Lanka is in producing highly creative work that becomes effective advertising, which delivers a high level of outstanding value to our brands across many formats, year after year”.

“Softlogic Life and Mullenlowe Sri Lanka has always had a special partnership. We have strived together to create and build a brand that we love and cherish. Every day is an adventure, and we are extremely happy that campaigns such as ‘Monawada Mutte’ and ‘Leda Leda’ have also gone to claim Effie metals apart from the amazing business results they have achieved and the joy they evoked when co-creating them with Mullenlowe Sri Lanka” stated Kavi Rajapaksha – Vice President, Marketing of Softlogic Life PLC

Dilshara Jayamanna – Chief Creative Officer, MullenLowe Sri Lanka, said, “It is when brands are faced with extreme adversity, that creativity should be at its sharpest, to help them rise above and perform even better. During the last two years, the MullenLowe Team has taken on this challenge and risen to new heights of creativity, delivering an unfair share of attention to the brands in our custody. This award is a testament to that incredible work ethic”.

The agency was bestowed with the first Gold Effie of the night for its ‘Monawada Muththe’ campaign for Softlogic Life Insurance and went on to receive 2 Silver Effies for its ‘Water revolution’ campaign for Unilever PureIt, and ’Count on us like family’ campaign for 1990. MullenLowe Sri Lanka also bagged 3 Bronze awards for its ’Sri Lanka puts 1990 on speed dial’ campaign for 1990, ’Celebrating art of Sri Lankan smile’ campaign for Signal and ‘Keeping Leda Leda alive’ campaign for Softlogic Life Insurance.

The event also saw the agency securing 8 Finalist Awards for its ’From transformation to restoration’ campaign for Glow & Lovely, ’Don’t get stuck in the moment’ campaign for LOLC Insurance, ’No more excuses!’ campaign for Knorr, ‘The campaign for all soap brands’ for ‘Lifebuoy’, ‘Influencers can help save lives’ campaign for Lifebuoy Soap, ’Changing the face of life insurance in Sri Lanka’ campaign for Softlogic Life Insurance, ‘Strong on germs, soft on skin’ campaign for Lifebuoy Soap, and ’Youth busy being young’ campaign for People’s Bank. MullenLowe Sri Lanka also walked away with a contributing agency award in the social media category for Upfield by Lanka Flora.

A global symbol of achievement with award programs honouring effective marketing communications in 42 countries and 6 regions, the Effie Awards have been held in Sri Lanka in partnership with the Sri Lanka Institute of Marketing (SLIM) since 2008.

MullenLowe Sri Lanka was established as LDB Lintas in 1993 and was subsequently referred to as Lowe LDB, an agency which comes from a powerful creative lineage. It came to be known as MullenLowe as a result of a merger with US-based network Mullen in 2015. A majority of MullenLowe’s business comes from global FMCG giant Unilever. In addition, it works with some of the country’s leading brands in carbonated soft drinks, banking and finance, insurance, biscuits, milk foods, Tea, FinTech, personal & beauty care products, mobile communications, data and consumer electronics. The group possesses vast cross-category knowledge which gives it an edge when it comes to effective work. The Group represents 5 strategic verticals offering expertise in Creative, Strategy Consultancy, Activation, Digital and Public Relations. Rated as the 36^th in the world and placed within the top 10 most effective agencies in APAC by Effie Index 2020 the MullenLowe Group is known for hyperbundling its offering using its verticals to offer meaningful solutions for brands. The company continues to dominate the top 10 most advertised categories by 80% and the top 20 most advertised categories by 50%, making it by far, the most influential brand communications company in Sri Lanka.

June 22, 2020

First agency office in Sri Lanka to enter the Asia Pacific Top 10 and to be ranked 36^th in the world for effectiveness
Two MullenLowe agencies make it to the top 100 agencies in the world – MullenLowe Sri Lanka at 36^th and MullenLowe USA at 86^th

MullenLowe Sri Lanka has been ranked 9^th in the Asia Pacific region’s Top 10 Most Effective Agencies of 2020 on the Effie Index. It is the first and only agency office from Sri Lanka to be listed on the Effie Index’s APAC Top 10. MullenLowe Sri Lanka outperformed much larger, well-established agencies from across APAC markets like China, India, Australia, Singapore and Indonesia, among others, establishing its presence in the very competitive Asia-Pacific leaderboard.

In the Global ranking of the most effective agencies, MullenLowe Sri Lanka ranked impressively at 36^th. It was one of only two offices from the MullenLowe network that made it to the top 100 on the Global Effie Index this year, with MullenLowe United States coming in at 86^th position. The APAC and Global rankings are hugely significant for Sri Lanka as much as it is for MullenLowe.

MullenLowe Sri Lanka was adjudged ‘Most Effective Agency of the Year’ for two consecutive years at the Effie Awards Sri Lanka. The agency also won the Gold award in the Creative Agency of the Year – Rest of South Asia Category for the second year running at the Campaign South Asia Agency of the Year Awards in 2019. It is accolades such as this that have helped pave the way for MullenLowe to be recognised among the leading agencies in the region which is attracting talent from across the region to work in its Sri Lanka office.

“We strive for a culture of effectiveness throughout the MullenLowe Group and are proud of our strong showing in Sri Lanka,” said Alex Leikikh, global CEO of MullenLowe Group. “Our network’s strong Effie Index performance throughout the world is directly tied to delivering results for our clients and their brands.”

Commenting on MullenLowe Sri Lanka’s continued dominance, Thayalan Bartlett, Chief Executive Officer of MullenLowe Group Sri Lanka stated, “This recognition is timely and hugely uplifting at a grim time for businesses all over the world. It energises us to fight harder and to recover faster from the last 3 months. As a resilient and highly skilled team that performs best in turbulent conditions for our clients, country and ourselves, we are even more resolute with this recognition to do better this year. We will!”

Released by Effie Worldwide, the Effie Index, published at www.effieindex.com, is considered to be the most comprehensive global ranking for marketing effectiveness. Now in its tenth year, the Index identifies and ranks the most effective agencies, marketers and brands by analysing finalist and winner data from more than fifty national and regional Effie Award competitions. The 2020 rankings reflect a compilation of over 4000 worldwide Effie winners and finalists announced between January 1^st, 2019 and December 31^st, 2019.

Known world over for its effectiveness, the MullenLowe Group is a creatively driven integrated marketing communications network which offers everything from brand consultancy, communications planning and through-the-line advertising to customer engagement, digital and PR to social mission development, brand storytelling, thought leadership, influencer engagement and organizational change.

Established as LDB Lintas in 1993, and thereafter referred to as Lowe LDB, the agency comes from a powerful creative lineage. It came to be known as MullenLowe as a result of a merger with US-based network Mullen in 2015. A majority of MullenLowe’s business comes from global FMCG giant Unilever. In addition, it works with some of the country’s leading brands in carbonated soft drinks, banking and finance, insurance, biscuits, milk foods, sanitary napkins, foods, FinTech, personal & beauty care products, mobile communications, data and consumer electronics. The company possesses vast cross-category knowledge which gives it an edge when it comes to effective work. The company continues to dominate the top 10 most advertised categories by 80% and the top 20 most advertised categories by 50%, making it by far, the most influential brand communications company in Sri Lanka.

January 30, 2018

Thayalan Bartlett, Chief Executive Officer of MullenLowe Sri Lanka

January 17, 2018

Leading integrated communications agency MullenLowe Sri Lanka and premier consumer behaviour specialists company Quantum Consumer Services are set to present a list of key consumer trends that marketers should look out for in 2018 at the CIM “Talking Point” forum to be held on the 29^th of January at the Hilton Colombo Residences (JAIC Hilton).

Abhishek Hariharan, Associate Vice President and Head of Strategic Planning, MullenLowe Sri Lanka and Chitrangani Herat Gunaratne, Senior Consultant, Quantum Consumer Services will be elaborating on these trends which highlight some expected shifts in consumer behaviour that are set to have an impact on how brands interact with their consumers in the year ahead.

The research was born from MullenLowe Sri Lanka’s acute understanding of market and consumer trends and Quantum’s extensive experience in researching human behaviour. MullenLowe works across multiple categories giving them the width and knowledge they need to plot trends and converting them into communications that engage consumers in a unique and exciting way. Quantum has extensive experience in the identification of deep human truths and its translation into brand strategy. The collective expertise and the collaborative nature of these two organizations have made this release possible which can immensely help brands and organizations in 2018.

Abhishek Hariharan, Associate Vice President

These trends are the result of hours of work by the two organizations analysing data and arriving at predictive summaries. The continued rise of technology, a changing consumer culture and priorities that occurred through 2017 will influence the way consumers make choices this year and these trends reflect those possible changes.

Commenting on the release of the 10 trends for 2018, Thayalan Bartlett, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of MullenLowe Sri Lanka, said, “The process of intrinsic understanding of people’s behaviours, their values, including the way they think and eventually act in engaging with products and services is an integral part of our communication process. The subtlest of shifts could impact brands, positively and negatively by the millions in a very short time. We are pleased to be working with Quantum on these predictive trends for 2018 which will benefit brands through this year.”

Roshani Fernando, Partner, Quantum Consumer Solutions said, “All trends have two sides to it, we see its manifestation in terms of particular behaviours. It is important to realise that these behaviours are rooted in deeper anxieties, where the behaviour is a coping mechanism or is a means of realizing an aspiration. We at Quantum are committed to enabling brands build genuine empathy triggers.”

CIM is the world’s largest professional body for marketing and CIM Sri Lanka is the first international branch of CIM comprising the largest number of members and students outside of the U.K. CIM Sri Lanka’s signature Talking Point series of programmes brings together corporate leaders, professionals and marketers to present and discuss topical and relevant subjects of interest to all.

Chitrangani Herat Gunaratne, Senior Consultant, Quantum Consumer Services

Quantum has over 25 years of experience in delivering deep, rich and clear insights to their clients. Utilizing cross functional teams made up of creatives, story crafters, designers, cultural experts and human insights specialists the company has been able to address challenging and complex questions to help their clients understand the human experience.

MullenLowe Sri Lanka is the local office of the MullenLowe Group, a member of the US$7.6 billion Interpublic Group (IPG) – one of the world’s leading organizations of advertising agencies and marketing services companies headquartered in New York. Seeing potential in post war Sri Lanka, IPG further strengthened its commitment by acquiring a 100% stake in the agency that started its operations in the country as LDB Lintas in 1993 and was subsequently known as Lowe LDB, an agency with a vibrant creative legacy. A majority of MullenLowe’s business comes from global FMCG giant Unilever. In addition, it works with some of the country’s leading brands in carbonated soft drinks, banking and finance, insurance, biscuits, milk foods, sanitary napkins, lubricants, foods, FinTech, personal care and beauty products, mobile communications, data, consumer electronics and paints to name a few.

December 5, 2017

Abhishek Hariharan, Associate Vice President and Head of Strategic Planning, MullenLowe Sri Lanka

November 21, 2017

The MullenLowe Sri Lanka leadership team (From left - Harendra Uyanage, Senior Creative Director; Dilshara Jayamanna, Senior Vice President and Executive Creative Director; Thayalan Bartlett, Chief Executive Officer; Chandu Rajapreyar, Vice President and Executive Creative Director; and Sean Pompeus, Director - Client Service.)

October 22, 2017

The jubilant MullenLowe Sri Lanka team with their Effie Awards

MullenLowe Sri Lanka named “Most Effective Agency of the Year 2022/23”

MullenLowe Sri Lanka appoints top professionals to its Board of Directors

Praveena Perera from MullenLowe wins “Top 50 women” professional award.

MullenLowe Awarded ‘Agency of the Year’ For Three Years Consecutively

MullenLowe in APAC’s Top 10 for Advertising Effectiveness in Effie Index 2020

MullenLowe Attributes 2017 Success to “Pure Growth”

MullenLowe and Quantum to Reveal Top 10 Consumer Trends for 2018 at CIM Talking Points

MullenLowe Sri Lanka Appoints New Head of Strategic Planning

Unilever and MullenLowe Most Awarded Partnership at Effies

MullenLowe Sri Lanka Strikes Gold at the Effies Yet Again