MAM
Dineout unveils ‘Dineout later, stay home now’ initiative
MUMBAI: Dining out and restaurant tech platform, Dineout despite of its brand name and objective, is encouraging users to practise responsible social distancing and superior personal hygiene to combat the spread of COVID-19. As a part of this public health initiative aimed at promoting the need to stay home and stay healthy, the brand has changed its name across social media platforms to ‘Dineout Later. Stay Home Now’ and also changed their popularly used hashtag #LetsDineout to #LetsStayHome to show their support.
Through social conversations with the hashtag #LetsStayHome, Dineout is sharing updates on how their team is working from home, having team lunch digitally together. They are also encouraging fellow Indians to stay entertained while indoors by exploring new hobbies, easy recipes, exercises and fun activities from the comfort of their homes amidst this crisis. People may also share their recipe ideas and photos of what they are cooking or eating with the same hashtag to promote healthy and safe eating habits. They have also created a unique Facebook event ‘Stay Home’ where they had invited people for a virtual dine-in on 22 March, the same day as Janta Curfew to have lunch from the comfort and safety of their homes. They have also announced the closure of their services and operations including denial of bookings and payments on 22 March to support the all India lockdown.
Speaking on the brand’s public health initiative, Dineout co-founder and CEO Ankit Mehrotra observed, “Social gathering is the key to the F&B industry, while social distancing is the key to fighting the widespread of COVID-19 and we’re strongly promoting it across all our platforms. We stand strong with our restaurant partners who have closed operations temporarily and #LetsStayHome is our collective effort to remind everyone to focus on what matters the most amidst this health emergency – the health and safety of our loved ones and our communities.”
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.
