AD Agencies
Dentsu Webchutney emerges as India’s most awarded agency at Cannes Lions 2019
Dentsu Webchutney, the creatively-led digital agency from the house of Dentsu Aegis Network, has taken a lion’s share in India’s awards tally at Cannes Lions 2019. With 17 shortlists, 1 Silver and 5 Bronze Lions in its kitty, the agency has scored 33 points and has become the most successful agency from India at the international festival of creativity.
Dentsu Webchutney’s winning trinity at Cannes was led by its rib-tickling innovation campaign for Swiggy- ‘Voice of Hunger’ that ruled Instagram for an entire fortnight (1 Silver and 2 Bronzes across Direct, Social & Influencer and Mobile). It was ably backed by Flipkart’s Hagglebot: a technology breakthrough launched during 2018’s Big Billion Days (2 Bronzes in Brand Activation and Creative E-Commerce), and ‘URI: Code Name URI’, an unexpected hack to fight piracy for the film, which went on to become a runaway hit (1 bronze in PR).
It is pertinent to mention here that all three campaigns, unlike the trend we usually see at Cannes Lions from an Indian perspective, are far from ‘Causevertising’. On the contrary, they were real, effective pieces backed by real client budgets that produced the core marketing metrics needed before having any award behind its name.
Sidharth Rao, co-founder and chief executive, Dentsu Webchutney said, “It’s been a fantastic week to put it mildly. Advertising has been too focused on changing its sub-brands, ‘digital’, ‘mainline’, rather than expanding the scope of what’s possible with what we do. We’re front and centre with marketing teams, and we collectively define charters in the same room with their advertising agencies, both are going to be under pressure to grow their brands. Keeping advertising as one part of the marketing function and finding its most effective, creative outlet is our core takeaway as an ad agency here today.”
Ashish Bhasin, CEO Greater South and chairman and CEO India, Dentsu Aegis Network, said, “What a remarkable performance we have had at Cannes this year! I am absolutely overjoyed with our 19 shortlists and 6 Lion wins and I congratulate Dentsu Webchutney and Dentsu Impact for this extraordinary performance. DAN is going to stay digitally ahead and be creatively led and this is only the beginning. Having built our business leadership and Digital leadership and then leading at Goafest for Abby’s and at Kyoorius, it feels great that our Digital Agency led India at Cannes Lion 2019. This is a new benchmark and perhaps also signals the beginning of the end of legacy creative agencies that are struggling to adapt to the changing environment. Dentsu Webchutney has really made me proud of their achievements particularly because their awards were won on real work, for large new age clients like Flipkart, Swiggy and Uri.” The success at Cannes Lions for Dentsu Webchutney comes barely a fortnight after their stellar performance at the recently concluded Kyoorius Creative Awards, where it had once again triumphed over India’s legacy creative agencies, and the ABBYs where it had emerged as the lead agency too.
For the record, with 19 shortlists for Dentsu Webchutney and Dentsu Impact, Dentsu Aegis Network India has secured the top position in India tally at Cannes Lions 2019.
AD Agencies
Publicis Brazil’s creative chief Mauro Ramalho lands the jury chair at Abby Awards 2026
Mauro Ramalho brings 25 years of global advertising firepower to the new creative commerce, use of data and B2B category at Goafest
GOA: The Abby Awards 2026, powered by The One Club and The One Show, has appointed Mauro Ramalho, chief creative officer of Publicis Brazil, as jury chair for its newly launched creative commerce, use of data and B2B category. The announcement, made on 18 March, signals the awards’ intent to bring serious international muscle to a category that sits squarely at the intersection of creativity and commercial performance.
Ramalho is not a name that needs much introduction in global advertising circles. Over 25 years spanning three countries, he has worked at some of the industry’s most creatively restless addresses. At AKQA in San Francisco, he worked across McDonald’s, Nike, Fox, Target, Kraft Foods and GAP, and helped lead “The Lost Ring” for McDonald’s, one of the first alternate reality campaigns and among the most awarded projects of its era. He later moved to Organic in Toronto, bridging the Detroit and Toronto offices on Dodge, Jeep and Chrysler, before spending over a decade building CUBOCC into one of Brazil’s most iconic and innovative independent agencies, which subsequently joined the IPG network.
A stint at FCB followed, where Ramalho led integrated work bridging online and offline, before he joined R/GA São Paulo as vice-president and executive creative director, stitching together the São Paulo office with New York, London, Portland and California on global clients including Verizon, Google, Meta, Samsung, American Express and Heineken. He now heads Publicis Brazil as its chief creative officer.
His trophy cabinet includes Clios, Effies, TikTok awards and MMA Smarties, and he has served on juries at the Andys, TikTok and the Lisbon Awards.
The Abby Awards 2026 is scheduled to take place at Goafest 2026 on 20, 21 and 22 May in Goa.
For Indian advertising, landing a jury chair of Ramalho’s calibre for a category built around data-driven creativity and commerce is a statement of ambition. Goafest just raised its own bar.
