The Script Room Adds Shivani Gairola as Executive Creative Consultant in Its Eighth Year

Introduction

India's independent advertising agency landscape is getting sharper, and The Script Room is making sure it stays ahead of the curve. As the Mumbai-based creative agency steps into its eighth year, it has announced the appointment of Shivani Gairola as Executive Creative Consultant — a move that formalises a four-year creative partnership into something more permanent and purposeful. In a market where independent agencies are increasingly competing with network heavyweights for marquee brand mandates, building the right creative bench at the right time is everything.

The Big Announcement

The Script Room has brought Shivani Gairola onto its core leadership team as Executive Creative Consultant, marking its most significant creative hire as it enters year eight. The appointment follows the onboarding of Alisha Sharma last year, reflecting a deliberate pattern of senior creative expansion at the agency.

Gairola is a MICA alumna with over a decade of advertising experience. She spent five years at Leo Burnett Mumbai, working across campaigns for globally recognised brands including McDonald's, Google, and PhonePe. Since 2021, she has operated as an independent creative director, building an impressive portfolio across Duroflex, Vedantu, Tata Motors, Tinder, Urban Company, and Groww — several of which were in collaboration with The Script Room itself.

Founded by Ayyappan Raj, The Script Room has carved a distinctive niche in India's advertising ecosystem with storytelling-led work for brands including PhonePe, Groww, AJIO, and Astrotalk. Gairola's addition strengthens a creative core that already punches well above its independent agency weight class.

What This Means for Your Brand

The Script Room's hiring pattern carries a clear message for Indian brands evaluating independent agency partnerships — this agency is building for scale without sacrificing the creative intimacy that defines its work.

For brand marketers, the significance of hiring someone who has already collaborated successfully with the agency over four years cannot be overstated. This is not onboarding a stranger — it is converting a proven creative relationship into institutional strength. The learning curve is flat, the creative chemistry is established, and the output potential is immediate.

Gairola's independent career background also brings a specific kind of value to the agency's creative offering. Freelance creative directors develop an unusually broad strategic instinct — they have worked across categories, adapted to different brand cultures, and delivered without the safety net of large agency infrastructure. That agility translates directly into stronger, faster creative thinking for clients.

For brands currently working with or considering The Script Room, this appointment signals that the agency is investing in creative depth ahead of growth — a healthy sign that quality will not be traded for volume as the portfolio expands.

The contrarian view? As independent agencies grow their leadership teams, maintaining the founder-led creative edge that attracted clients in the first place becomes a genuine challenge. The Script Room will need to ensure Gairola's addition amplifies rather than dilutes its distinctive storytelling voice.

Expert Take

The Script Room's growth story is worth contextualising within India's broader independent agency renaissance. Over the past five years, independent creative shops have steadily won mandates from digital-native brands — particularly in fintech, edtech, and consumer internet — that prioritise sharp narratives over scale and process. The agency's portfolio across PhonePe, Groww, and AJIO reflects exactly this trend.

Ayyappan Raj's description of Gairola as someone whose strength combines strong ideas with solid strategy points to a specific creative profile the agency is building toward — one where conceptual thinking and strategic rigour coexist. Raj noted that her joining was long overdue, having collaborated on successful campaigns for Groww, Nykaa, and Tinder over the past four years — a track record that makes this appointment a natural creative evolution rather than an experimental hire.

The brands.in Perspective

There is something quietly smart about how The Script Room is growing. Rather than hiring aggressively from the open market, the agency is converting its best creative collaborators into permanent team members — people who already understand the agency's culture, voice, and standards. It is a talent strategy that prioritises fit over flash. In an industry where creative agency culture is notoriously fragile, building the team from within the trusted network is not just sensible — it is a competitive advantage. Independent agencies that crack this formula tend to outlast the ones that grow for growth's sake.

Key Takeaways for Marketers

• Shivani Gairola joins The Script Room as Executive Creative Consultant in its eighth year
• She brings over a decade of experience including five years at Leo Burnett Mumbai
• Prior brand work spans McDonald's, Google, PhonePe, Tata Motors, Tinder, and Groww
• The appointment continues The Script Room's pattern of deliberate senior creative expansion
• The agency's portfolio includes PhonePe, Groww, AJIO, and Astrotalk

FAQ

What is The Script Room known for in Indian advertising? The Script Room is a Mumbai-based independent creative agency known for storytelling-led campaigns. It has built its reputation working with digital-first brands including PhonePe, Groww, AJIO, and Astrotalk over seven years of operations.

Who is Shivani Gairola and what is her advertising background? Gairola is a MICA alumna with over ten years of advertising experience. She worked at Leo Burnett Mumbai for five years before going independent in 2021, building a portfolio across fintech, edtech, and consumer brands.

Why does hiring an Executive Creative Consultant matter for an independent agency? Senior creative leadership directly shapes the quality and consistency of an agency's output. For independent shops competing with network agencies, building a strong creative bench signals maturity, strategic intent, and capacity to handle larger, more complex brand mandates.

Closing

The best creative agencies are not built in a day — they are built one trusted relationship at a time. The Script Room's decision to bring Shivani Gairola from collaborator to core team member is a masterclass in relationship-led growth. Could this be the creative combination that takes the agency to its next level?

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