MAM
Cooking Up Cupid as Cumin Co Serves a Rosé Valentine Special
MUMBAI: Who said romance can’t simmer on the stove? This Valentine’s season, Cumin Co. is stirring emotion into an unlikely category cookware by treating it less like a lifetime utility and more like a fleeting love affair. Marking its first anniversary, the health-first kitchenware brand has launched the Rosé Dutch Oven, a limited-edition, Valentine’s-exclusive release that anchors its Table of Love campaign. In a category dominated by permanent, evergreen SKUs, the move is deliberately disruptive: the Rosé Dutch Oven is designed to exist only for a moment, positioning cookware as an expressive, design-led purchase tied to occasion, emotion and memory.
At the heart of the campaign is the idea of the table as a place of connection. The Rosé Dutch Oven reflects this philosophy through soft blush-pink enamel, a heart-shaped knob and a silhouette meant to be as eye-catching on the dining table as it is dependable on the stove. Here, colour, form and narrative carry as much weight as performance.
The launch is supported by a bold, digital-first and city-wide activation. In the run-up to Valentine’s Day, Cumin Co. is turning its website and social media grid pink, leaning into colour-led storytelling to build anticipation and spark conversation. Taking the campaign offline, pink balloons will pop up across Delhi-NCR, weaving the brand’s Valentine narrative into everyday city life and encouraging moments of organic discovery.
Staying true to its health-first positioning, the Rosé Dutch Oven is crafted from 100 per cent non-toxic cast iron with a porcelain enamel coating, offering even heat distribution, durability and zero compromise on safety. Each purchase also comes with a curated Love Kit inspired by the five love languages, adding an extra layer of surprise and gifting appeal.
Priced between Rs 4,299 and Rs 5,999, the Rosé Dutch Oven sits firmly in the premium, limited-edition space, aimed at consumers looking for thoughtful, design-forward cookware with strong emotional pull.
Available only for a short window this Valentine’s season, the release marks a rare moment in Indian cookware where campaign-led storytelling, emotional design and deliberate scarcity come together to prove that even cast iron can have a soft side.
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.
