AD Agencies
Eggfirst Chalo Rural India Conclave and Awards celebrates rural excellence and digital advertising
Mumbai: The 3rd edition of the Eggfirst Chalo Rural India Conclave & Awards, held at the Westin Goregaon, Mumbai, marked a historic milestone in the advertising and digital marketing landscape. The event, organised by Eggfirst, a prominent advertising and digital agency specialising in rural advertising, brought together over 500 industry leaders from more than 250 renowned brands for a transformative evening dedicated to exploring the vast potential, growth prospects, and digital advertising avenues in rural India.
A highlight of the event was the presence of Akash Jadhav and Santosh Jadhav, popular YouTube influencers known for their Indian Farmers channel, which boasts 18.2 million subscribers and serves as a valuable resource for millions of farmers across the country.
The Conclave featured two insightful panel discussions: ‘Rural India ki Kahaani, Brands ki Zubaani’ and ‘Badhte Bharat ki Nayi Kahaani,’ where leaders from top-tier companies including Bayer CropScience, Corteva, Fino Payments Bank, DeHaat, Ambuja Cement, Yes Bank, Del Monte, Parle, SBI General, and NABARD shared profound insights and experiences related to rural India.
Eggfirst CEO, founder and conclave’s curator Ravikant Banka expressed his enthusiasm, saying, “The response to the event has been absolutely exhilarating. Witnessing such a robust turnout of senior industry professionals at our event is nothing short of overwhelming. The wealth of knowledge that was shared and exchanged under one roof was genuinely phenomenal.”
The grand finale of the conclave was the awards ceremony, celebrating excellence in rural advertising, marketing, and digital. Notable winners included Fino, DeHaat, Ujjivan Small Finance Bank, Syngenta, and Corteva, who received gold trophies, while PNB Bank, ESAF Small Finance Bank, Simpolo, and Agrostar were honored with silver awards, and Greenstar, Tata Tiscon, and more received bronze recognition.
The event brought together delegates from rural tech startups, venture capital firms, FMCG giants, banks, government bodies, and agri-input companies who travelled from cities across India, underscoring the wide-reaching impact of the conclave.
Banka emphasised, “The conclave and awards turned out to be an event packed with insightful discussions and recognition of the best rural marketing campaigns across multiple categories. We are delighted to have hosted the event and are grateful to our esteemed panelists and delegates.”
The 3rd edition of the Eggfirst Chalo Rural India Conclave & Awards has ignited a wave of enthusiasm within the industry, encouraging discussions on the boundless opportunities in rural India.
AD Agencies
Publicis Brazil’s creative chief Mauro Ramalho lands the jury chair at Abby Awards 2026
Mauro Ramalho brings 25 years of global advertising firepower to the new creative commerce, use of data and B2B category at Goafest
GOA: The Abby Awards 2026, powered by The One Club and The One Show, has appointed Mauro Ramalho, chief creative officer of Publicis Brazil, as jury chair for its newly launched creative commerce, use of data and B2B category. The announcement, made on 18 March, signals the awards’ intent to bring serious international muscle to a category that sits squarely at the intersection of creativity and commercial performance.
Ramalho is not a name that needs much introduction in global advertising circles. Over 25 years spanning three countries, he has worked at some of the industry’s most creatively restless addresses. At AKQA in San Francisco, he worked across McDonald’s, Nike, Fox, Target, Kraft Foods and GAP, and helped lead “The Lost Ring” for McDonald’s, one of the first alternate reality campaigns and among the most awarded projects of its era. He later moved to Organic in Toronto, bridging the Detroit and Toronto offices on Dodge, Jeep and Chrysler, before spending over a decade building CUBOCC into one of Brazil’s most iconic and innovative independent agencies, which subsequently joined the IPG network.
A stint at FCB followed, where Ramalho led integrated work bridging online and offline, before he joined R/GA São Paulo as vice-president and executive creative director, stitching together the São Paulo office with New York, London, Portland and California on global clients including Verizon, Google, Meta, Samsung, American Express and Heineken. He now heads Publicis Brazil as its chief creative officer.
His trophy cabinet includes Clios, Effies, TikTok awards and MMA Smarties, and he has served on juries at the Andys, TikTok and the Lisbon Awards.
The Abby Awards 2026 is scheduled to take place at Goafest 2026 on 20, 21 and 22 May in Goa.
For Indian advertising, landing a jury chair of Ramalho’s calibre for a category built around data-driven creativity and commerce is a statement of ambition. Goafest just raised its own bar.
