AD Agencies
Wavemaker India & ABP ride crest of Creative & Publisher Abbys by One Show
GOA: One Show’s Abby Creative Awards 2025 has crowned its champions, and Wavemaker India has surfed to victory with a staggering haul. The media powerhouse dominated the agency battlefield, amassing an eye-watering 124 points through a medal collection that would make an Olympian blush—six golds, eight silvers and four bronzes.
In a ceremony held in Goa during Day one of the annual industry confab GoaFest 2025, the finest in advertising and marketing gathered to discover who had clinched advertising glory.
Mindshare India made a respectable splash, securing second position with 76 points through a balanced medal cabinet of four golds, four silvers and five bronzes. EssenceMediacom rounded out the podium with a modest 36 points.
The competition saw ABP Pvt Ltd emerge victorious in the publisher category, netting 30 points through a crafty combination of one gold, three silvers, one bronze and—perhaps most impressively—no requirements for a calculator to tally their score.
Bennett & Coleman, the venerable media house, strutted away with 28 points, while Jagran Prakashnan Ltd secured a neat 22 points with two golds but a notably barren bronze cabinet.
FCB India, despite having a worldwide reputation that could intimidate the competition, managed a humble 10 points, tying with TheHindu Group. Both proved that legacy doesn’t always translate to hardware.
The ceremony, powered by One Show, continues to be the advertising industry’s moment to preen, posture and occasionally be pleased that competitors are winning, delighted at the excellent work being rewarded.
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.
