MAM
Danone India appoints Taproot Dentsu as creative partner for Protinex
MUMBAI: Danone India has roped in Taproot Dentsu as the creative agency on record for the entire portfolio of the FMCG company’s health food drink brand, Protinex. Danone India is a part of the global food-products multinational corporation Danone, headquartered in Paris.
Taproot Dentsu, which is a part of the Dentsu Aegis Group, had already partnered the brand on a project-based relationship to handle the entire brand portfolio for the past one year. A multi-agency pitch had preceded this alliance in the year 2015, wherein Taproot Dentsu had won the mandate. Given the fruitful collaboration last year over the core Protinex brand campaign (the launch of Protinex Grow), some tactical competitive work and expanding of the flavour portfolio, taking this partnership to the next level was a seamless, mutual decision, a Dentsu Aegis Network release stated.
Danone India marketing head Himanshu Bakshi said, “Brand positioning and portfolio present a huge opportunity to establish as an everyday family health brand with a clear differentiator on protein. Taproot Dentsu has been quite instrumental to bring alive this paradigm shift on the brand. The team, with its strong planning and creative minds, has already delivered multiple campaigns to help build protein relevance across cohorts through the lens of Protinex. We feel very confident to strengthen the Protinex-Taproot Dentsu partnership, especially when the brand and category is at the cusp of a new dimension of expansion, innovations and growth. We look forward to a stronger collaboration in the future.”
“Danone’s global mission to ‘Bring Health Through Food To As Many People As Possible’ allows us to address unmet needs for the greater good. In India, eclectic dietary patterns and cultural nuances provide a huge demand creation opportunity to food brands that offer serious nutrition. We are committed to creating persuasive conversations that build on Danone’s strong and scientific brand propositions,” Taproot Dentsu CEO Umesh Shrikhande said.
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.
