‘It was a career mistake’: Swati Bhattacharya on Global Head role at Godrej Creative Lab

Bhattacharya highlighted her role didn’t have any scope for creativity; said she now stands without a title

by Neeta Nair and Raaina Jain
Published: May 15, 2026 10:25 AM | 3 min read

Swati Bhattacharya

Swati Bhattacharya, a veteran creative director, reflected on her experience as Global Head of Lightbox Creative Lab at Godrej Consumer Products, describing her tenure from September 2024 to December 2025 as a "big career mistake" despite the appealing title.
She expressed that the role did not allow for the creative freedom she anticipated, often leading her to seek work from other departments to maintain productivity and creativity.
Under her leadership, Godrej Creative Lab achieved significant recognition, including a Silver Lion at Cannes 2025 for the 'Naga Saint Eye Test' campaign, marking a milestone as India's first in-house creative agency to win such an award.
Bhattacharya, who previously made history as India's first female Chief Creative Officer at a major agency, emphasized the importance of learning from mistakes and continuing to create impactful work.

Veteran creative director Swati Bhattacharya, who served as Global Head of Lightbox Creative Lab (Godrej Creative Lab), Godrej Consumer Products Limited’s in-house ad agency from September 2024 to December 2025, told IMPACT Magazine that in late 2024, she made a “big career mistake”.

She emphasised that she loved the title, but it didn’t translate in reality. “I took up the job because it gave me the title of Global Creative Director. Once I joined, I realised that the title was big, but the room was small. There were days when my title didn’t know where to stand or to sit. And there were days the title couldn’t even breathe. The thing the room asked me the most to do was ‘don’t be so creative’,” she said.

Sharing more about her work at the organisation, Bhattacharya said, “I started begging for work from other departments, like the #SheForShe film for the corporate department, a small agarbatti film for regional Andhra Pradesh and a campaign for their sister concern’s chicken nugget product. For the Good and Green department, I did a campaign centred on naga sadhus. My last piece of work was a PSA project.”

She added that all these campaigns and projects yielded results from Cannes to The One Show. For the ‘Naga Saint Eye Test’ campaign, Godrej Creative Lab secured a Silver Lion at Cannes 2025 in the Health and Wellness category, making it India’s first in-house creative agency to win the honour. It also just won a Silver Pencil + Merit in One Show 2026 and at SABRE Awards Asia Pacific- Best of Show.

Swati Bhattacharya also told IMPACT that Godrej Creative Lab found a place in several top agency rankings owing to the campaigns she fronted.

Bhattacharya, who made history in 2016 as India’s first female Chief Creative Officer of a major advertising agency when she joined FCB Ulka, further said that she is now a creative without a title. “There is a lesson in there for all of us. We will make mistakes. But then we will make things with that mistake,” she stated.

Before joining Godrej, Bhattacharya served as Chief Creative Officer at FCB India. She was instrumental in FCB India’s global acclaim, including their first-ever Cannes Lion win for the ‘Sindoor Khela’ campaign in 2018. The campaign, conceptualised by Bhattacharya, bagged two Gold and two Bronze metals. The agency went on to win Lions for campaigns such as ‘Times Out & Proud’ and ‘The Politics of Hair’.

Earlier in her career, which spans over 30 years, she also held creative leadership roles at agencies such as FCB Ulka, dentsu India and JWT.