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Nikhila (Nik) Dissanayake

Creative Director
Portfolio website
About

I have extensive experience in creative leadership within advertising, renowned for innovative campaigns and strategic vision. With a background in managing cross-platform projects, I bring strong problem-solving skills and the ability to adapt to fast-paced environments, complemented by fluency in English and Sinhala.

Previous Brands
5elements Advertising
Bbdo Sri Lanka
Lowe Ldb (Mullenlowe)
Publicis Groupe Sri Lanka
Splendor Media
Young Asia Television
Work Experience
Associate Creative Director - Head Of Art
Jun ‘17 - Jul ‘20
Publicis Groupe Sri Lanka

At Sri Lanka's most internationally awarded advertising agency, I lead one of four creative teams and co-created some of the country's most innovative, celebrated and talked-about work. Most noteworthy being the Petal Paint project. As the only art-based ACD, and one of the most experienced Art Directors in the industry, I guide, mentor, train and inspire others in every way I can while ensuring that I lead by example, always. In my time here, the agency landed 'Agency of the Year' at Campaign Asia, Effie Awards and Epica Awards.

Creative Director - Head of Creative
Nov ‘15 - Jun ‘17
5elements Advertising

5Elements is a fully integrated 'Marketing Communications Agency' in Saudi Arabia, providing solutions in both conventional advertising and the digital spectrum. As the fastest growing market in the region, Saudi Arabia is also one of the fastest growing social media communities. Catering to this drive, as the 'Head of Creative', I lead the company's creative and strategic vision for clients. I provided solutions ranging from conventional media to innovative alternatives, implementing and thus managing cross-platform design and advertising projects, while going head-to-head with multinational advertising agencies for a bigger share of this dynamic and ever-evolving market.

Associate Creative Director - Head Of Digital
Nov ‘12 - Nov ‘15
Bbdo Sri Lanka

BBDO Sri Lanka was the youngest agency of the most awarded advertising agency network in the world. Renowned for its prolific and celebrated work, the agency worked for some of the world's most successful brands. As the 'Associate Creative Director/Head of Digital', I was one of the four ACDs leading the creative department while heading the 'social media and digital communications unit'. I was part of some of the successful campaigns engineered by the agency while leading and managing cross-platform design and creative projects. During my time at BBDO, the agency won both Campaign Asia's 'Agency of the Year' and Effie Awards 'Agency of the Year'.

Associate Creative Director
Jan ‘10 - Dec ‘12
Splendor Media

Splendor is a leading advertising and communications agency in Sri Lanka, equally owned by two of the nation's top five groups of companies. The company's strength is its media presence; leveraging off this strength and as the 'Creative Head', I lead a creative team to develop creative solutions using strategy and direction; a result-oriented approach to inculcate responsibility in final delivery, while imparting creative leadership, client management, planning, brand development, animated productions, digital executions and ATL solutions. Also initiated and headed the 'Annual Report' development unit, managing publications for some of Sri Lanka's renowned brands. Copyline 20

Creative Group Head
‘04 - ‘09
Lowe Ldb (Mullenlowe)

Headed a design team to produce innovative executions in press, outdoor, television and 360 degree campaigns for local and international marketing companies. Operated on critical client accounts that included multinational and national FMCG brands like the prestigious Unilever and Ceylon Cold Stores along with other leading brands in the market at the time. Operated at the LOWE Bangalore office and gained exposure to regional operating methodologies. Worked on the Sri Lanka and Bangladesh launch project for 'Britannia', one of the largest confectionary manufacturers in South Asia. During my tenure at LOWE LDB, I won a host of recognitions to compliment my work.

Senior Graphic Designer
Jul ‘97 - May ‘05
Young Asia Television

The lead video graphics designer and multimedia effects specialist for internationally telecasted programs broadcasted via satellite and webTV. Lead a team of 3D/2D animators and VFX artists, produced short movies, video spots, title graphics and internationally award-winning music videos. Developed a host of Sri Lanka's first international music videos in the country including the 'Lions and Tigers' video by Brown Boogie Nation. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zCQLtJ271YY), Bathiya and Santhush's 'diviyadiviya', a video for Alston Koch – a Sri Lankan born Australian pop-star and the HIV aids 'stop the virus' commercial (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TseuS8T_cWk).

Languages
English - Fluent
Sinhala - Fluent
Colombo, Sri Lanka