MAM
Dentsu wins creative mandate for Max India corporate
MUMBAI: Dentsu Creative Impact, Dentsu India’s full service advertising agency, has been awarded the creative duties for Max India Limited, a leading multi-business corporate with commanding India presence in life insurance (Max Life), healthcare (Max Healthcare), health insurance (Max Bupa Health Insurance), clinical Research (Max Neeman) and the manufacturing of speciality products for the packaging industry (Max Speciality Films).
The agency has also won the creative mandate for the newest brand within the Max India Group – Antara, which is in the business of redefining how seniors live in India today through their upcoming residential communities for people over the age of sixty.
Dentsu India Group executive chairman Rohit Ohri said “We’re really excited to partner Max India in its next phase of growth and development in the market. Max India is focused on creating positive social impact in the country through its businesses. This vision offers us a unique opportunity to create communication that not only connects with audiences at multiple emotional levels but also through a wide variety of touch points. Another opportunity for us to demonstrate our integrated communication thinking!”
Driven by the spirit of enterprise, Max India Limited focuses on people and service-oriented businesses, the core of which revolves around ‘Life’. The Group is credited with forging and successfully nurturing strong and fruitful business relationships with leading global companies over the years. Max India enjoys strong relationships with its JV partners – Fortune 100 company New York Life, South African healthcare major Life Healthcare and leading international healthcare provider, Bupa.
Max India Head – Communications Nitin Thakur said, “We were looking for a creative partner to help us think through a distinct and meaningful positioning of brand Max that reflects our ethos and is a powerful enough core for our Group businesses to build their individual product positioning around it. Two things about Dentsu’s approach stood out for us. While strategy was at the forefront, the enthusiasm displayed by the new team at Dentsu Creative Impact helped fortify our belief that a lot of fresh thinking is on the cards for a stronger and resurgent Brand Max.”
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.
