MAM
Carrier Midea India appoints DDB Mudra as its advertising agency
MUMBAI: Carrier Midea India Pvt. Ltd. has appointed DDB Mudra Delhi as its creative agency for the Midea Brand. DDB Mudra Group was entrusted with the account after a multi-agency pitch.
The agency‘s main focus will be on strategic planning and creative execution for both ATL and BTL requirements of the Midea brand.
Carrier Midea India is a new entrant in the Indian home appliances market and has aggressive marketing plans. The business was awarded to DDB Mudra Group based on its strong strategic recommendation and sharp point of view on positioning the brand Midea in the competitive Indian consumer durables market.
Carrier Midea India vice president – sales and marketing Sanjay Mahajan said, “DDB Mudra has a proven track record of creating brands, remarkable campaigns and fresh ideas. The team is proactive, extremely passionate and provides a good balance of thinking and doing. Also, we are poised for growth with major expansion plans and are confident that our partner agency will play a critical role in achieving our marketing goals. We look forward to work with them.”
DDB Mudra Group Delhi president Vandana Das said, “Wins are always delighting, but with this specific one, we are even more delighted as we would be partnering with Carrier Midea India for a full fledged launch of the Midea brand in the country. We would be adopting an integrated approach to launch it across all consumer touch points, in the months ahead.”
Carrier Midea India is a joint venture between Carrier Corporation and GD Midea Holding Co. Ltd. and deals in high technology heating, air-conditioning and refrigeration (HVACR) solutions. In 2011 it has net sales of $17Billion.
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.
