Inside MullenLowe’s playbook

• MullenLowe Sri Lanka is poised for its next phase of growth, backed by Omnicom’s confidence in the team and the Sri Lankan market 
• As a country, creatively, we aren’t there yet, but I am confident that we have the potential. What gives us at MullenLowe an edge is access to global resources, exposure to international brands, and guidance from global creative leaders. That perspective matters
• Creatives must evolve in speed, adaptability, and openness. AI should not be ignored or treated as a threat. It is a powerful tool. Those who learn to use it intelligently will move faster and think broader

• Harendra Uyanage on Consistency, Culture and Commercial Impact

From the outskirts of Colombo to leading one of the country’s most awarded creative agencies, Harendra Uyanage has built his rise on persistence, discipline, and a clear focus on business impact rather than optics. In an exclusive interview with Mirror Business, the Chief Creative Officer of MullenLowe Group Sri Lanka said the industry must move beyond surface-level creativity towards accountability, integrity, and effectiveness that delivers real commercial outcomes. He also indicated that the agency is entering a new phase of growth, backed by the confidence of global network Omnicom Group, positioning itself for a larger role in the evolving market.

Following are the excerpts of the interview:

QYour journey from a paste-up artist to the country’s top Creative Chief at MullenLowe Group Sri Lanka is often described as one built on resilience rather than privilege. When you reflect on that path, what shaped you the most as a creative leader and as a person?
Over the years, I have realised that leadership is less about talking and more about observing people, situations, and dynamics. I respect every individual I work with, regardless of designation. Titles do not impress me. Curiosity does. Hunger does. No matter what position you hold, you should never lose the hunger to learn. The day you think you know it all is the day you stop growing. 
A good creative person should be able to stay the course – what that means is riding the waves of uncertainty, success, and disappointment without losing the vision you have for yourself. If your vision is to improve your value and your contribution then the chances of making it our very good. But if you prioritise monitory expectations then you will begin moving every two years and you lose sight of the vision you are trying to reach.
QConversations around transparency, authenticity, and accountability are becoming more prominent within Sri Lanka’s advertising industry. What standards should agencies hold themselves to if they want to build long-term trust with clients and the public?
Trust is built through small, consistent actions, not through award entries or public statements. Agencies need to be honest about what they can and cannot deliver and be serious contenders and not pretenders. Overpromising and underdelivering have damaged this industry more than we admit. 
There must be transparency in costing, in credit, and in results. If something did not work, we must acknowledge it and fix it. Authenticity means not chasing trends that do not align with the brand simply to appear progressive. Accountability means taking responsibility when things go wrong instead of hiding behind layers. Long-term trust is built when clients know you are protecting their business, not just your own reputation.
QMullenLowe Group Sri Lanka’s consistent recognition as the Effie Agency of the Year, including multiple wins over the past decade, points to both creative, effective, and commercial strength. What is it about the culture within the agency that allows ideas to consistently deliver results across categories?
Consistency at that level comes from giving people clarity in direction and the freedom to think, while creating an environment where they feel trusted, supported, and accountable. Creativity cannot thrive in fear, and the best ideas emerge when teams are aligned to solving real business problems. That is why our work consistently delivers effectiveness and continues to be recognised at the Effies.
QYou were the first ever recipient of the Next Generation Leader Scholarship. How did that recognition influence your thinking about Sri Lanka’s place in the global creative landscape?
Receiving the Next Generation Leader Scholarship was a defining opportunity for me. It allowed me to connect with and learn directly from creative leaders across different markets, and that exposure reshaped how I see our industry in terms of both standards and possibilities.
As a country, creatively, we aren’t there yet, but I am confident that we have the potential. What gives us at MullenLowe an edge is access to global resources, exposure to international brands, and guidance from global creative leaders. That perspective matters. We can get there, but only if we stay hungry.
QYou have led work that has revived struggling brands and repositioned legacy names across industries. What is the difference between a campaign that wins attention and one that genuinely transforms a business?
Attention is easy. Transformation is hard. A campaign that wins attention usually has a clever hook. It trends, it gets talked about, and sometimes it wins awards. A campaign that transforms a business understands the core problem of the brand. It shifts perception, changes behaviour, and impacts sales consistently over time. Transformation requires discipline, consistency, and alignment with the brand’s long-term vision. It is less glamorous, but far more powerful. Awards may fade. Business impact stays.
QThe life of a creative inside a leading agency is often romanticised by some. What does a typical week actually look like for you, and what pressures or responsibilities are rarely spoken about publicly?
Romanticised is not the right word. The CCO title is not about glamour, it is about rolling up your sleeve and taking responsibility. You manage talent, egos, expectations, and pressure from both clients and within the agency. My biggest priority today is about creating the right environment for others to do great work, solving problems, handling daily challenges, and protecting the team when needed and help them advance their expectations when the time is right. 
The higher the position, the tougher it gets. It is not ‘Mad Men’ or dramatic boardroom speeches. I find joy in solving real problems for clients and for the agency, and we have a lot of fun along the way. If you truly love advertising, I would absolutely recommend it.
QYou have mentored young creatives and served on juries across award platforms. What concerns you most about the next generation entering the industry, and what gives you confidence in them?
My concern is their impatience. Many young creatives want instant recognition, instant growth, and instant titles, but real mastery takes time. When you skip the difficult stages, you miss the lessons that shape you. At the same time, my confidence in them is high. They are exposed to more information than we ever were. Technology, AI, and global inspiration give them access to tools we did not have. If they combine that exposure with patience and discipline, they can go a long way.
QIntegrity in advertising has recently come under scrutiny in Sri Lanka. What standards should agencies hold themselves to if they want to build long term trust with clients and with the public?
Our clients place a great deal of trust in us, and we should never seek to breach that. We will not compromise on this under any circumstance, and it is a commitment we make to every client. While integrity, on both the client and agency sides, can at times be questionable, we make a conscious effort to stay clear of such situations. It is very easy to get distracted in our business, and the saying that “money is the root of all evil” often holds true. At MullenLowe, integrity remains a top priority and is consistently practised across everything we do. This means being honest with our numbers, how we charge our clients, and how we engage with our production partners. 
Integrity also means giving due credit, not manipulating case studies, not chasing trends simply to appear relevant, and standing by the work even when it does not succeed. The industry is small, the business is fast paced, and reputations travel even faster. If we want long-term trust, we must prioritise the brand’s business over our own ego. That is the standard embedded in our DNA.
QData, technology, and artificial intelligence are reshaping communication. In your view, where does human storytelling still hold an advantage, and where must creatives evolve quickly to remain relevant?
Technology can optimise, personalise, and predict patterns. What it cannot do is feel. Human storytelling still holds the advantage in understanding emotion, culture, tension, and contradiction, the things that make people human. AI can analyse behaviour, but it does not understand lived experience. It does not sit in a Sri Lankan home and observe how a family actually speaks, eats, argues, or celebrates. That depth of empathy still belongs to us.
Creatives must evolve in speed, adaptability, and openness. AI should not be ignored or treated as a threat. It is a powerful tool. Those who learn to use it intelligently will move faster and think broader. The future belongs to creatives who combine human instinct with technological intelligence. We are working hard every day to stay ahead of this curve.
QMullenLowe operates across multiple verticals spanning mainstream, strategy, digital, activation, media, and public relations. How does integration across these disciplines influence the quality and impact of the final creative output?
Real integration is what makes a campaign work. Consumers do not experience our work in neat verticals. They might see a reel, then a billboard, then a PR story, and then something in-store. It is when all of that connects and the message feels familiar that it truly lands. Effectiveness comes from that consistency and from helping people connect the dots themselves. That only happens when strategy, creative, digital, media, technology, activation, and PR sit at the same table from the very beginning. An idea should not change its personality depending on where it appears. It should feel like the same idea, expressed in different ways.
QOmnicom recently acquired IPG and is now the world’s largest Marketing Services network. How does this affect or compliment MullenLowe Sri Lanka and what future does it hold for the Sri Lanka operation?
Omnicom New York is in conversation to integrate us with one of their big three global agencies. This arrangement has been finalised and an announcement will be made in the next two months once some formalities are completed. 
We are encouraged that Omnicom has immense faith in us and the Sri Lankan economy to represent one of their biggest brands. We are truly excited about what the next phase holds for us as we make this transition to something bigger, bolder and better for our clients and employees.