MAM
Soni urges DAVP to give more ads to electronic media
NEW DELHI: Information and Broadcasting Minister Ambika Soni urged the Directorate of Advertising and Visual Publicity (DAVP) to give greater share of advertisements to the electronic media, small and medium newspapers, and the Urdu press.
Soni said she often received complaints that the print media was getting a larger share as compared to the electronic media. Similarly, she said the Urdu press had particularly shown phenomenal growth and needed to be helped.
Addressing a function where she released the official calendar for 2011 of the Government of India brought out by the DAVP, she noted that the calendar was on the theme of “India’s Endangered Species.” She said the purpose of bringing out the calendar was to sensitise people on the impact of environment and climate change on matters concerning the endangered species within the country. Each month would focus on a single endangered species.
In order to sensitise the people of the country on the subject, she said the calendar was being sent to all Panchayats in the country, all Eco-Clubs in schools across the country funded by the Ministry of Environment and Forests, and Schools under “Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan” and “Rashtriya Madhyamik Shiksha Abhiyan” funded by the Human Resource Development Ministry. Approximately 200,000 schools would be covered. A total of 1.2 million calendars were being printed for distribution.
The endangered species covered each month separately include: the Tiger, the Asiatic lion, the Vulture, the Indian Elephant, the Indian One Horned Rhino, the Swamp Deer or Barahsingha, the Black Necked Crane, the Western Tragopan or the Western Horned Tragopan, the Snow Leopard, the Oliver Ridley Turtle, the Golden Langoor and the Red Panda. There is also a paragraph about each of these creatures. The photographs have been contributed by the eminent wildlife filmmaker Mike Pandey, who is a three-time winner of the Green Oscar – the world’s highest award for environmental films.
The Minister mentioned that the Wall Calendar brought out by the Ministry for the year 2010 was based on the theme “Empowerment of Women through Flagship and other programmes of the Government”. Each month dealt with one flagship programme of the government and depicted the role of women in it. The Wall Calendar for 2010 was distributed to all Panchayats in the country in bi-lingual and regional languages format.
DAVP Director General Frank Noronha outlined the initiatives taken by DAVP in the past one year. He specifically mentioned the key initiatives in the AV Sector, IT & digital initiatives and the steps taken for streamlining the empanelment procedure of newspapers and magazines including implementing the recommendations of the Rate Structure Committee. He touched upon the initiatives being currently studied including mobile telephony and SMS.
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.
