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Infectious Advertising’s Ramanuj Shastry joins NY Festivals Grand Jury 2024
Mumbai: Globally celebrated international advertising competition New York Festivals announced the appointment of Infectious Advertising’s Ramanuj Shastry as one of the Grand Jury members for its 2024 Advertising Awards. The NYF awards are held across regional, national and continental boundaries and provide a complete representation of the best in communications.
“Ramanuj Shastry brings over 25 years of creative leadership and industry expertise to the 2024 NYF Advertising Awards Grand Jury panel,” said Scott Rose, executive director of the NYF Advertising Awards. “His award-winning work has earned him a trophy shelf of accolades, and his experience crafting campaigns for prestigious global brands truly makes him an asset in honouring trophy-worthy work.”
Infectious Advertising creative chairman Ramanuj Shastry added, “Chuffed to be picked as a juror for the 2024 edition of the prestigious New York Festivals of Advertising. I am excited to see tremendous ideas from around the world and discuss them with some of the finest minds in the business. Eagerly looking forward to this!”
An alumnus (PRM-90-92) of IRMA (Institute of Rural Management, Anand), Ramanuj has more than 25 years of experience in advertising. He learnt his craft at Ogilvy and McCann and served as CCO at Publicis Ambience, Rediffusion Y&R and Saatchi & Saatchi (in that order) before launching his agency, Infectious Advertising with Nisha Singhania in 2013.
He has won several Indian and international awards and served on the film jury at Cannes Lions 2010. Ramanuj has more than 200 ad films to his name and some of the landmark campaigns he has worked on are ‘Thanda Matlab Coca-Cola’, Saffola – ‘Kal Se’ and OLX – ‘Bech De’. He was one of the Jury Members for New York Festivals 2021 as well!
The official deadline to enter the 2024 New York Festivals Advertising Awards is April 5 with a final closing deadline of April 26, 2024.
All entries into the 2024 NYF Advertising Awards competition will be judged by 400+
members of NYF’s Executive Jury and Grand Jury, a panel of prominent global creative minds, who collectively cast over 400,000+ votes to select the World’s Best Advertising.
The New York Festivals Advertising Awards competition receives entries from more than 60 countries. It is judged by more than 400 NYF’s Executive and Grand Jury members, who collectively cast their votes to select the year’s trophy-winning work.
MAM
Lego brings Messi, Ronaldo, Mbappé, Vinicius together
Campaign clocks 314 million views ahead of FIFA World Cup 2026 buzz.
MUMBAI: Four legends, one frame and not a single tackle in sight. Lego has pulled off a crossover few thought possible, uniting Lionel Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo, Kylian Mbappé and Vinícius Júnior in a single campaign ahead of the FIFA World Cup 2026 only this time, they’re building dreams brick by brick.
Titled “Everyone wants a piece”, the campaign features the quartet assembling a Lego version of the World Cup trophy, before placing miniature versions of themselves atop it, a playful nod to football’s ultimate prize. Shared widely across social media, the ad carries a pointed disclaimer: it is not AI-generated, a subtle but telling signal in an era where even reality is often questioned.
The numbers tell their own story. The campaign has already crossed 314 million views on Instagram across the players’ accounts, with fans hailing it as a rare, almost nostalgic moment particularly for the reunion of Messi and Ronaldo, whose last shared campaign ahead of the 2022 World Cup became one of the platform’s most-liked posts.
Beyond the film, Lego is extending the play with exclusive, player-themed sets tied to each of the four stars, part of a broader football-led programme designed to ride the global momentum building towards 2026. The idea, as echoed by the players themselves, leans into the parallels between football and play experimentation, creativity, failure, and triumph.
Messi described the sets as a way to bring on-pitch moments into an imaginative, hands-on world, while Ronaldo called the transformation into a Lego figure a rare honour, blending sport with storytelling. Vinícius, meanwhile, struck a more personal note, recalling childhood moments of building with Lego and framing creativity as a universal language that transcends borders.
The timing is no accident. With the 2026 World Cup set to run from June 11 to July 19 across the United States, Canada and Mexico, and featuring an expanded 48-team format, global anticipation is already building. Argentina, led by Messi, will enter as defending champions, adding another layer of intrigue.
For Lego, the campaign does more than celebrate football, it taps into its mythology. Because when icons become figurines and rivalries turn into play, the beautiful game finds a new kind of pitch. one built, quite literally, by hand.
