MAM
Vdopia realigns its top management
MUMBAI: In order to strengthen the business and its product offerings, Vdopia has made changes in the top management.
To meet the distinct demands and challenges of the ad tech industry, it has appointed Saurabh Bhatia, who co-founded Vdopia in 2007 and has served since as its chief business officer (CBO), as its chief executive officer (CEO), succeeding Srikanth Kakani (also a co-founder) who becomes the company’s chief technology officer (CTO), a new position. Chhavi Upadhyay, another co-founder, who has served as chief operating officer (COO), becomes Vdopia’s president, also a new position.
Bhatia believes that under Srikanth’s direction, Vdopia served video ads to 63 of the top 100 ad age advertisers and expanded globally opening up offices in nine countries. He says: “Building on the momentum set by him, we aim to innovate with greater speed, efficiency and capability in a fast-changing world. We are in the most exciting phase of our growth, as the mobile video ad market is expected to grow by more than 300 per cent in the next four years. As an organisation, we will build a stronger, growing business portfolio by further solidifying our core technology offerings. This structural reorganisation is indispensable for Vdopia to respond with agility to the changing business environment.”
As Vdopia’s CEO, Bhatia will have global responsibilities for driving the company’s growth and vision, leading the company’s strategy, defining the product road map and be in charge of overall revenue growth.
With over 10 years of sales and business development experience, prior to co-founding Vdopia, he held executive positions at Maxcellence, Peak Performance Solutions and Insways Software. Bhatia holds a degree in Industrial Engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi.
As Vdopia’s first CTO, Kakani will oversee the development, implementation and growth of Vdopia’s technology vision. This includes but is not limited to strengthening the core technology of VDO, Vdopia’s proprietary ad format, launching and building a mobile video marketplace, development of big data targeting engines and Vdopia’s approach to native advertising.
Upadhyay, as the company’s president, will provide leadership and direction to human resources, legal, accounting and finance in addition to her current responsibilities of global operations and business development.
“With these management changes we will focus on making internal and external processes at Vdopia more productive, efficient, simple and scalable,” adds Bhatia. “We will continue to focus our energies and efforts on building great products and providing value for our customers, stakeholders and the advertising industry.”
MAM
VML India lands two finalist spots at Cairns Hatchlings 2026
The Mumbai agency is back in Australia with two teams, a UN brief and 24 hours to impress
MUMBAI: VML India is heading to Australia again. The Mumbai-based creative agency has secured two finalist spots at the Cairns Hatchlings 2026 competition, one in the Audio category and one in Design, making it the only Indian agency to have reached the finals in both editions of the contest since its launch in 2025.
Four people will make the trip. Senior copywriter Shilpi Dey and senior art director Raj Thakkar will compete in Audio. Art directors Shabbir and Shruti Negi will go head-to-head with the world’s best in Design. The finals take place at the Cairns Convention Centre from 13th May, culminating in an awards ceremony on 15th May.
The work that got them there is worth examining. For the Audio category, Dey and Thakkar tackled a brief for LIVE LIKE MMAD with a campaign called Inner Voice, Interrupted. Using spatial audio techniques, the campaign recreates the overwhelming self-doubt that descends after a long workday, physically panning negative thoughts left and right before cutting the noise entirely to reveal a confident inner voice. Strategically targeted at commuters via Spotify during evening rush hours, the campaign reframes the hours after work as an opportunity for personal growth and charitable action.
For the Design category, Shabbir and Negi worked on a brief for Canteen’s Bandanna Day, a campaign highlighting how cancer pushes teenagers out of their own defining moments. Using a pixelated design language to create stark contrast between a blurred world of isolation and a focused world of connection, the campaign, titled The Flipside of Cancer, shows teenagers fading into the background of birthdays, skateparks and school proms. As a Canteen bandanna appears, the blur flips and the teenager snaps back into sharp focus.
Kalpesh Patankar, group chief creative officer of VML India, made no attempt to disguise his satisfaction. “We are immensely proud to see our teams consistently excel on the Cairns Hatchlings platform since its inception,” he said. “They have masterfully tackled challenging briefs across diverse categories, demonstrating both layered storytelling and a unique creative approach. This exceptional teamwork is truly inspiring.”
Dey and Thakkar, returning to the finals after last year’s run, were candid about the demands of the audio medium. “It’s one of the most demanding mediums, where we only have a few seconds to capture a listener’s world with sound alone, so absolute clarity is essential,” they said. “The true measure of creative work is its ability to create positive change, and our audio submission was made to help those who need it most while encouraging people to silence the inner voices that hold them back.”
Shabbir and Negi, competing in Design for the first time, described the experience as “a completely different beast.” “We see it as an opportunity to showcase our expertise, raise the bar, and challenge ourselves in new ways, while also learning from creative minds from across the globe,” they said.
In Australia, the four finalists will face a live 24-hour brief from the United Nations before presenting in a live pitch session. Twenty-four hours, one brief, one shot. VML India has been here before. It knows exactly what is at stake.
