MAM
‘Ad Age’ adjudges MindShare as Global Agency of 2003
NEW DELHI: MindShare has been awarded the honour of ‘Global Agency of the Year 2003’ by the Advertising Age magazine.
“Meticulous and tenacious, blessed with a stable management team that has been in place since the company’s opening day seven years ago, MindShare is Advertising Age’s Global Media Agency of the Year. More than any of its rivals, MindShare in 2003 won a wide range of new business, orchestrated global client relationships and developed innovative media strategies. The previous year’s winner was Omnicom’s OMD,” says the article featuring MindShare.
The award for MindShare caps an outstanding year in terms of recognition from various titles including Media magazine (Media Agency of the Year Asia Pacific), Ad Week (US) and Campaign and Marketing (UK) among the others. The awards lists also includes EMVIE Awards from India.
As per the coverage in Advertising Age, the gross wins for MindShare in 2003 stood at $1.54 billion while the gross losses were evaluated to be $316 million. The net win for the entire year was $1.22 billion. Three account gains from Asia – Motorola and President Foods from China, and Unilever Thailand are among the major wins while the major losses from Asia were Unilever Japan (planning only), and Siemens China and Singapore.
“A surprising one-quarter of new billings came from China, where MindShare has a phenomenal track record and leadership position in the world’s fastest-growing media market. Another source of growth is a steadily increasing share of Unilever’s business around the world. MindShare is the winner of 15 of Unilever’s last 17 country reviews,” says the article in Ad Age.
On the importance of China, Mark Patterson, MindShare’s Hong Kong-based CEO, North Asia, has been quoted as saying, “China is one of our top three or four markets around the world in its contribution to the business.”
“Our view is that the overall balance of worldwide activity is shifting toward China, India and other developing markets. (China’s ad market) will double in five years in terms of media billings, as well as media sophistication and availability of different channels,” said MindShare CEO Dominic Proctor.
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.
