MAM
Buzzing with purpose as Herkey launches BEE to woo women with meaning
MUMBAI: Marketing to women just got a major upgrade and it’s got wings. Herkey, India’s largest AI-powered career engagement platform for women, has launched BEE – Brand Engage Experience, a buzzing new suite of marketing solutions designed to help brands connect, not just campaign, with India’s rising tribe of working women.
With women now influencing 85 per cent of all household purchases and controlling over 30 per cent of global wealth (set to hit 50 per cent in just five years), brands can no longer afford to speak in broad strokes. BEE is Herkey’s answer to decades of pinkwashed, one-size-fits-all branding offering instead nuanced, purposeful engagement through storytelling, community, and lived experiences.
“Women are no longer just consumers, they’re culture-shapers, wealth-creators, and the backbone of India’s workforce resurgence. They now control over 30 per cent of global wealth, and this figure is projected to rise to 50 per cent in just five years,” said Herkey founder & CEO Neha Bagaria. “BEE is built to help brands not just market to this powerful demographic, but to meaningfully connect with them through stories, experiences, and conversations that matter.”
“BEE (Brand Engage Experience) is a marketing ecosystem designed to drive real, measurable impact. By tapping into HerKey’s vast network of creators, consumers, candidates, brands, and experts, BEE allows companies to craft high-impact campaigns that resonate with India’s most influential consumer group women. BEE amplifies brand presence through rich visual storytelling to aspirational women consumers via immersive experiences like fireside chats, master classes, and expert-led sessions.”, said Herkey VP growth & marketing, Wasim Sayed.
BEE is built on the back of Herkey’s robust ecosystem of over 5 million women professionals, 200,000 mentors, and 20,000 partner companies. The platform allows brands to design campaigns that resonate with women at every career stage whether she’s a fresher, a returnee, a working mum, or a corporate powerhouse.
From fireside chats and masterclasses to expert-led sessions and rich visual storytelling, BEE offers tools that prioritise connection over conversion. Think of it as the anti-banner-ad approach immersive, contextual, and emotionally intelligent.
With over 20,000 companies already part of the Herkey network, from startups to global giants, BEE is set to become a strategic bridge between brands and one of the most powerful consumer groups of our time. And in a market where authenticity is currency, BEE might just be the buzz brands need to break through the noise.
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.
