MAM
Brand sewa takes the wheel at Rath Yatra with Rs 50 crore ride to recall
MUMBAI: This Rath Yatra, brands aren’t just showing up, they’re showing up with purpose. From shaded rest zones to multilingual helpdesks and hydration kiosks, the 2025 Jagannath Puri Rath Yatra is seeing a holy union of devotion and disruption as advertisers swap billboards for bio toilets, prasad delivery and public service. Spearheading this transformation is Chaaipani, which has clinched exclusive brand integration and activation rights for the Yatra in collaboration with the Puri District Administration. The result? An expected brand value generation of over Rs 50 crore this year, with projections soaring to Rs 200 crore in the coming years as brands discover the power of service-led participation.
Over 15 million pilgrims are expected to visit the coastal town this year, creating a diverse and emotionally charged audience base that spans geographies, age groups, and spiritual leanings. “We’re not placing logos, we’re placing help,” said Chaaipani founder Shruti Chaturvedi. “This is not about advertising; it’s about alignment with culture, with service, with the real needs of real people.”
The shift is not just symbolic. Brand interventions ranging from real-time digital updates via the Jagannath Dham app, pan-India prasad delivery, and hygiene-focused installations are all vetted for cultural sensitivity and operational relevance in partnership with local authorities.
Puri District collector Siddharth Shankar Swain (IAS) called the move a “sacred duty of seva”, saying, “It’s heartening to see brands stepping in not as sponsors, but as sevaks. This is a collective movement of unity, care, and public service.”
And the momentum is industry-agnostic. From FMCG to digital payments, logistics to beverages, the brands stepping in aren’t just selling, they’re serving.
The audience is as diverse as it gets rural and urban, tech-savvy and tradition-rooted, young and old making it a unique moment where faith and footprint converge. “Commerce meets consciousness,” as Chaturvedi puts it. “And when that happens, brands earn not just mindshare but heartshare.”
The 2025 edition of the Rath Yatra could go down not just as a spiritual high point, but also as a case study in how brands can walk the path of relevance barefoot, hand-in-hand with culture.
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.
