The MullenLowe Group (MLG) Sri Lanka announced the appointment of Harendra Uyanage as Chief Creative Officer (CCO), further strengthening the Group’s creative leadership as it continues to shape culture-led, business-driving brand thinking across categories.
Harendra’s appointment recognises a career built on strategic creativity, filmmaking excellence, and an ability to redefine how legacy and emerging brands engage with contemporary audiences. Over more than two decades, he has led transformative work across personal care, home care, beauty, healthcare, financial services, telecommunications, and retail, consistently delivering creativity that drives both cultural relevance and commercial impact.
Widely regarded as one of Sri Lanka’s most decorated creative leaders, Harendra has played a pivotal role in steering the agency’s creative reputation locally and regionally. His leadership has contributed to multiple Effie wins across categories, including Gold and Silver accolades in recent years, and to the agency being recognised among Asia Pacific’s most effective creative organisations. Several brand revivals under his direction have gone on to become long-term business success stories, reinforcing the value of insight-led creativity and disciplined storytelling.
Commenting on the appointment, Thayalan Bartlett, Executive Chairman of the MullenLowe Group Sri Lanka said, “From a paste-up artist to the C-suite and boardroom of Sri Lanka’s largest brand communications company, Harendra’s journey exemplifies perseverance, humility, and uncompromising creative conviction. At a time when integrity in our industry is under increasing scrutiny, he has been central to building MullenLowe Sri Lanka’s creative reputation on deep routed values and inspiring a generation of talent. As Chief Creative Officer, he will continue to set high standards for our work, our people, and for creativity.”
Beyond campaign work, Harendra has been instrumental in shaping industry standards through mentoring and jury roles at leading local and regional award platforms. His commitment to developing young creative talent remains central to his leadership philosophy, reflecting a belief that sustainable creative excellence is built by nurturing people as much as ideas.
Harendra was also the first-ever recipient of the Next Generation Leader Scholarship, a landmark industry initiative that recognises future-facing leadership and provides exposure to global creative benchmarks. The recognition reinforces his standing as a leader equipped to carry Sri Lankan creativity onto the world stage while strengthening the industry at home.
Speaking on his appointment, Harendra Uyanage said, “This role carries both responsibility and purpose. Creativity has the power to influence culture, shift behaviour, and build brands that matter. I look forward to continuing this journey with the team at MullenLowe, mentoring the next generation, and ensuring Sri Lanka is recognised not just for participation, but for leadership in the global creative landscape.”
As Chief Creative Officer, Harendra will lead MLG Sri Lanka’s creative vision, strengthening integrated storytelling, craft excellence, and talent development across the Group’s diverse client portfolio.
MullenLowe Group Sri Lanka (MLG) is Sri Lanka’s largest integrated brand communications company and operates eight independent strategic business verticals, spanning Mainstream, Digital, Activations, MarTech, Media and Public Relations. MLG’s Sri Lanka office consists of 110 staff, serves 43 of the nation’s top corporates, manages 111 brands across 33 categories, including 80% of the top 10 and 50% of the top 20 most advertised categories in the country making it a company with prolific cross category knowledge. Ranked among the world’s top 100 agencies and APAC’s top 20, MLG is Sri Lanka’s Effie Agency of The Year and a consistent local awards leader for over a decade. It operates as a full member affiliate of MullenLowe Worldwide recently merged with Omnicom combining unmatched global knowledge and experience with local insight to deliver end-to-end brand solutions.