Ravi Deshpande is one of the most prominent creative leaders in the Indian and global advertising world.

Currently, he is the Founder and Chairman at Whyness Worldwide. This new company addresses brand challenges with solutions that combine human insights, creativity, design and technology.

In 2011, he had co-founded Ecole Intuit Lab in India, a school of graphic design and visual communication from Paris, France. It is now one of the most prominent schools of design and digital thinking in India.

Before starting Whyness, he was at the helm of Contract India (a WPP company) as Chairman and Chief Creative Officer between 2005 to June, 2013.

He led the agency to win over 600 creative awards nationally and internationally.

Under his creative leadership, on four occasions, Contract was the Agency Of The Year at the Advertising & Marketing national awards. It won the Agency Of The Year in the Ad Club Bombay awards, in 1999. This resulted in Contract becoming the best creative force in the country during that period.

From 2001 to 2005, he was the CCO at Euro RSCG for the Indian Subcontinent and the Middle East. He had also founded Lemon, a boutique agency for the group.

He has been honoured as Creative Professional Of The Year and twice as Art Director Of The Year. He also won recognition for ‘Outstanding Contribution to the Advertising Industry in India’.

He has been on several juries of international awards such as Cannes, D&AD, The One Show, Adfest, Dubai Lynx, Spikes Asia, The Cup and Clio.

He has crafted a theory called 'Grow Young, which is based on the belief that un-boxed ideas reverse the ageing process of brands, making them younger and more desirable.

He has been honoured as one of the six living advertising legends in the last fifty years in India by the Madras Advertising Club.