MAM
DDB MudraMax bags Rs 300 mn Nirmal Lifestyle media biz
Mumbai: The experience and engagement network of the DDB Mudra Group – DDB MudraMax – has been awarded with the media duties of Nirmal Lifestyle.
The account was won following a multi-agency pitch and size of the business is in the range of Rs 250-300 million.
The creative duties for the real estate developers already rest with DDB Mudra.
Nirmal Lifestyle director Rajeev Jain said, “We at Nirmal lifestyle have a vision for the next 25 years for our growth and expansion through ‘innovating, creating and transforming’ strategy. We have a vision to take up fitness and sports as our company‘s core DNA and to also make it a part of our townships and retail and commercial projects. As this is a big leap for our company in terms of the growth we are looking in the next 10 years, we also require a media design and planning agency of equal caliber who can give our vision support and strength required. We are delighted to partner with DDB MudraMax and are confident that they will do a great job and take our brand to the next level.”
DDB MudraMax Media Mumbai head Samir Khanna added, “This is a prestigious win for us. The vibrant vision of Nirmal Lifestyle of ‘Innovating, Creating and Transforming’ and focus on sports and fitness as their core DNA has got us very excited. We look forward to partnering with the team at Nirmal Lifestyle.”
DDB MudraMax enables clients to interact at a single point to reach consumers through a complete spectrum of specialist touch points such as TV, Print, Radio, Digital, Out-of-Home, Retail, Activation, Events, Bottom of the pyramid, Sports, Music, Youth and Entertainment and has 36 offices pan India.
Its clients include Pepsi, Gillette, Volkswagen, Reebok, Aircel, ITC, Birla Sun Life, Titan, Castrol, Uninor, Star, Colgate, Standard Chartered Bank, Tata, Hindustan Times, Asian Paints, Yamaha, Kotak, Hewlett Packard, Fosters, L&T, Ashok Leyland, Western Union, Jyothy Laboratories – Henkel, LIC, World Gold Council, BPCL, TTK Prestige, Wipro Consumer Care, Amway, ACC and others.
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.
