MAM
Batooni mobile advertising integrates Nielsen Digital Ad Ratings for audience verification
MUMBAI: Batooni, the hyper-local mobile advertising startup in India has been certified by Nielsen for Digital Ad Ratings (DAR). Advertisers who distribute their campaign on Batooni’s platform, with the help of Nielsen DAR, will be able to measure reach and frequency per campaign target. As Nielsen Digital Ad Ratings is an established leader in advertising campaign measurement, this certification will enable Batooni to engage with more advertisers and provide campaign data effectively and efficiently.
The certification from Nielsen DAR will allow Batooni to provide a comprehensive view of an ad’s audience on mobiles in a way that is comparable to ad reach measurements on other digital platforms. This certification is important for advertisers as they can get external validation that their messages have reached the right target audience from a trusted industry leader like Nielsen that stores humungous amounts of authentic audience data. Advertisers will also be able to ensure that their brand messages reach the right people to maximise return on investment. The certification will allow Batooni to get inroads into exploring partnership opportunities with large brands. The move will further strengthen Batooni’s efforts to bring transparency in ad distribution and advertiser ROI.
Commenting on acquiring this certification, Batooni director and co-founder Jitendra Chaturvedi said, “We at Batooni are making a continued effort to offer our clients the best measurement tools to maximize their campaign efficiency. Obtaining a digital ad rating certification from one of the most credible and reputed audience measurement platforms such as Nielsen is significant for Batooni. Within a few months of launching the startup, we have been able to successfully cross a major milestone of achieving over half a million users on our platform. Now with this validation from Nielsen, we are sure large advertisers will feel even more confident of the platform which should help us expand our user base further.”
Batooni is a first of its kind hyper-local mobile advertising startup that is carving out a niche space for itself in India’s mobile advertising industry. Batooni’s sophisticated campaign dashboard enables advertisers to take complete control over their mobile ad campaigns. A campaign design and management system ensures the ad campaigns are targeted to specific audiences, delivering unprecedented ROI to advertisers. The startup has developed a path-breaking hyper-local video advertising platform for smartphones that compensate users for their time and attention with real monetary benefits, while offering advertisers targeted, tactically efficient video advertising on mobile phones.
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.
