MAM
AdAsia: Droga, Charan & Tobaccowala are key speakers
MUMBAI: AdAsia 2011 has said that David Droga, Dr Ram Charan and Rishad Tobaccowala will be the key speakers for the congress to be held in New Delhi from 31 October to 3 November.
The three speakers will share their perspective on the evolving dynamics in business management, marketing and communications at AdAsia 2011.
PepsiCo chairperson and CEO Indra Nooyi will be the Keynote Speaker at the congress.
David Droga, who founded an independent advertising agency Droga5, has also worked as worldwide CCO of the Publicis network, ECD of Saatchi & Saatchi London, and regional creative director of Saatchi & Saatchi Asia.
A business advisor with more than 30 years of experience, Dr. Charan has worked with companies such as GE, Verizon, Novartis, Dupont, Thomson Corporation, Honeywell, KLM, Bank of America, and MeadWestvaco.
Rishad Tobaccowala helps guide strategy and serves as a catalyst to innovation efforts across Vivaki – a Publicis Groupe entity. He has also served as the chief innovation officer of Publicis Groupe Media and was the founder and president of SMG Next.
Chairman of the organising committee AdAsia 2011 and Group CEO and MD – Mudra Group Madhukar Kamath said, “AdAsia2011 is honoured to welcome David Droga, Ram Charan andRashid Tobaccowala to AdAsia 2011. Their varied experience and expertise in different fields of management, marketing and communications will add immeasurable value to the entire conference and will provide it a holistic view.”
AdAsia returns to India after eight years. In 2003, the AdAsia congress was hosted in Jaipur and was widely regarded as a landmark in the history of the Congress. AdAsia seeks to comprehensively explore all aspects of the theme ‘Uncertainty: The New Certainty‘.
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.
