AD Agencies
Goafest 2017: Ramesh Narayan re-elected council chairman
MUMBAI: The Advertising Club and Advertising Agencies Association of India have announced the Awards Governing Council for the Abby’s at Goafest 2017. Ad veteran and industry leader Ramesh Narayan, founder of Canco Advertising has been once again appointed the Chairman of the AGC.
“The Abby’s are the Oscars of Indian advertising. The Awards Governing Council has a wealth of experience and expertise and I feel privileged to lead such an august panel. It will be our endeavor to engage actively with all constituents and ensure that creativity is properly judged and celebrated,” Narayan shared.
The other members elected to the Council are:
The other members elected to the Council are:
· Nakul Chopra, CEO – South Asia, Publicis Communications India & President, Advertising Agencies Association of India (AAA’s of I)
· Ajay Chandwani, Director, Percept Ltd
· Ajay Kakkar, Chief Marketing Officer- Financial Services, Aditya Birla Group.
· Ashish Bhasin, Chairman Goafest 2017 and Chairman & CEO South Asia Dentsu Aegis Network
· CVL Srinivas, Chief Executive Officer, South Asia, GroupM
· M G Parameswaran, Founder at Brand-Building.com
· Nagesh Alai, Founder, Independent Business Advisory and Chairman of C4A
· Partha Sinha, Vice Chairman and Managing Director, McCann Worldgroup
· Pradeep Dwivedi, CEO Sakal Group
· Shashi Sinha, Chief Executive Officer, IPG Mediabrands
The Advertising Club’s Raj Nayak said, “Under Ramesh Narayan’s leadership Goafest 2016 emerged as a huge success with increase in participation and highest standards of ethics and governance. We are sure that with once again taking on the reigns of the awards, he will take this key industry event that is the gold standard in advertising awards, to greater heights.”
“It is great to once again have Ramesh in the driver’s seat of the governing council. His experience of leading multiple industry bodies and awards gives him great perspective and foresight to be able to drive excellence, in the judging and execution of this year’s awards,” added Advertising Agencies Association of India (AAA’s of I) president Nakul Chopra.
AD Agencies
The smell that told Mumbaikars which station was next
Tata AIA turns Mumbai’s Parle-G memory into a sharp, city-wise outdoor play
MUMBAI: When a biscuit factory became Mumbai’s unofficial station announcement. Long before smartphone maps and automated announcements, commuters on Mumbai’s Western line relied on their noses. As trains rolled into Vile Parle, compartments filled with the warm, sweet smell of baking biscuits from the Parle-G factory. It was a cue to gather bags, wake dozing children and shuffle towards the door.
Now that memory has been pressed into service by Tata AIA Life Insurance as part of its 25-year anniversary outdoor campaign — a city-by-city salute to the lived moments that shape urban life.
One hoarding, mounted close to the old factory site, reads: “We have been protecting Mumbaikars since Vile Parle smelled of freshly made biscuits.” Spare. Local. Loaded.
The broader campaign, rolled out across major metros, leans hard into contextual storytelling. In Kolkata, it nods to trams. In Pune, to Magarpatta’s transformation. In Bengaluru, to a time before IT parks. In Chennai, to OMR before it led to tech corridors. Each line anchors the brand’s longevity to a shared civic memory.
The Mumbai execution is the most evocative. For decades, the Parle-G factory was more than a production unit. It was a sensory landmark. Residents nearby set their clocks by the factory horn. Office-goers marked their commute by the waft of glucose and flour. When the plant shut, the city lost more than jobs. It lost a rhythm.
By placing the hoarding beside the former factory, the insurer collapses distance between copy and context. The site does half the storytelling. The rest comes from commuters who remember opening steel tiffins packed with Parle-G, or jolting awake as the train slowed.
It is a neat piece of brand positioning. Rather than trumpet balance sheets or policy counts, Tata AIA borrows emotional equity from the city itself. Twenty-five years becomes less a milestone and more a presence — steady, local, embedded.
Outdoor advertising is often a blunt instrument. This one is anything but. It whispers. It remembers. And in doing so, it sells trust without sounding like it is selling at all.
The scent may have faded. The memory has not.
