MAM
Aditi Chada closes the curtain on her Prime Video act after five years in the spotlight
MUMBAI: The credits are rolling for Aditi Chada at Prime Video. After five years of orchestrating the streaming giant’s communications strategy in India, Chada has announced her exit with the kind of grace note that would make any scriptwriter jealous. She’s leaving with a full heart, a packed Rolodex and—most tantalizingly—hints of “something new very soon.” Cue the dramatic pause.
Chada’s tenure at Prime Video reads like a carefully plotted character arc. She joined in January 2021 as a PR manager, back when India’s streaming wars were heating up faster than a pressure cooker biryani. Within two-and-a-half years, she’d climbed to head of content publicity, then ascended again in June 2024 to helm all communications for Prime Video and Amazon MGM Studios in India. Not bad for someone who started her career flogging corporate messaging at Hanmer & Partners two decades ago.
Before her Prime Video stint, Chada racked up an impressive 15-year prelude in corporate communications. She spent nearly five years at Viacom18, rising to senior director of corporate communications, marketing and sustainability. Prior to that, she handled corporate affairs at Cadbury (now Mondelez International) for four years, presumably solving chocolate-related crises with aplomb. A two-and-a-half-year spell managing PR for Kaya Skin Clinic at Marico Ltd rounded out her consumer-facing credentials.
Now, as she teases her next act, the industry waits with bated breath. Will it be another streaming service? Whatever it is, Chada’s departure leaves a significant gap in Prime Video’s Indian operations—one that won’t be easy to fill. But if there’s one thing her career trajectory proves, it’s that she knows how to write her own script. Roll on the sequel.
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.
