Vikram Pandey

Based in Mumbai

Vikram Pandey is currently the Chief Creative Officer at Leo Burnett, South Asia—announced the World's No. 1 Creative Agency by WARC Effective 2025.

Vikram, fondly known across the industry as Spiky, has built his career with loyalty and creativity. Starting out as a Junior Copywriter at Leo Burnett, he has spent over 18 years at the agency—rising steadily to become Chief Creative Officer of the agency.

Across 16+ years of work, Vikram has been behind several category-redefining campaigns. He helped launch Spotify in India with the celebrated 'There’s a Playlist for That' campaign, transformed Acko into a new-age insurance brand, and created Leo Burnett’s most awarded piece of work in recent years—Airtel's 175 Replayed, which digitally resurrected Kapil Dev’s legendary but unrecorded innings. His portfolio also includes innovations like a micro-financing system powered by social media for Tata Capital, and the Gatorade 'Turf Finder', which used Google Maps data to convert underutilised spaces into sporting grounds. The latter went on to win a silver and a bronze at the Good Ads Matter Awards, India '25; and bagged the title of 'Network Agency of the Year'.

Together with his long-time partner Sachin Kamble, Vikram has elevated Leo Burnett India to commendable heights. Under their leadership, the agency has ranked as the #1 Indian agency at Cannes Lions, D&AD, and The One Show for two consecutive years. In 2023, Leo Burnett India was crowned Asia-Pacific Creative Agency of the Year at Spikes, and #2 Asia-Pacific Agency of the Year at the Global Effies—also winning the coveted Grand Effies. The recently published WARC 100 report named Leo Burnett India the #1 creative agency in the world, while the One Show global rankings placed it at #8—a milestone Vikram views as “just the beginning.”

His teams’ work has consistently pushed the boundaries of creativity, technology, and media, earning honours across every major global stage—Cannes Lions, D&AD, One Show, Clio, LIA, Spikes, and the Global Effies—with multiple Grand Prix and Best of Show awards in categories like Creative Data, Sustainability, and Creative Commerce.

When asked about the secret to his journey, Vikram keeps it simple: “My seniors have been kind, my juniors have been brilliant, and my clients have been brave.”