MAM
Nilesh Naik joins Rediffusion as executive creative director
Mumbai: Rediffusion announced that Nilesh Naik has joined its Mumbai office as executive creative director.
With over 19 years of work experience, Naik has worked with several top agencies including Publicis, Euro RSCG, Bates, Dentsu, Percept and FCB in India, and The Classic Partnership, Grey Worldwide and GTB in the UAE, in Dubai.
“We have been strengthening our team at Rediffusion to keep pace with all the new businesses that we have been winning over the past few months. And of course, there has been a tremendous surge in projects and assignments from existing clients,” said Rediffusion Mumbai head and EVP Kalyani Srivastava. “Nilesh will be tasked with shouldering some of the increased responsibilities and I am sure he will come out aces.”
Naik was ranked among top 10 creative directors in the MENA region in 2019. He is the recipient of several awards that include the Cannes Lions, Adfest, OneShow and Dubai Lynx and his work has been featured in Lurzer’s International Archive.
“Nilesh brings mature, well-rounded and multi-domain experience to Rediffusion Mumbai. He is a wordsmith who expresses himself elegantly and impactfully,” said Rediffusion Mumbai head of creative Pramod Sharma. “We are looking forward to some great work from Nilesh in the days to come.”
“Rediffusion has created some of the most memorable campaigns in Indian advertising and it feels great to be part of such a fabulous team,” stated Nilesh Naik on his new role. “Here creativity is the only currency and I’m looking forward to creating fantastic work that gets noticed, establishes a deep connection with the audience and does wonders to clients’ businesses.”
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.
