AD Agencies
Innovative application of AI; Happy Finish markets Shoegazer
MUMBAI: Happy Finish, the VR content specialists and global production studio, has launched its Artificial Intelligence (AI) technology.
Shoegazer, currently a proof of concept (PoC) for the fashion-retail industry, uses image recognition and transfer learning technologies to identify brands and models of trainers in real-time – with 95 per cent accuracy. To support the full launch of Shoegazer, Happy Finish is also embarking on a round of capital fundraising for £395,000.
Happy Finish’s Shoegazer is a unique PoC for the fashion and retail industry.
There is also opportunity to apply the transfer learning technology from Shoegazer to other areas within fashion and retail, including clothes, accessories and bags. The nature of the application also means that it is not solely limited to individual brands – there is also an opportunity for retailers to use the application to cross-sell other products within their portfolio. The prototype is already being presented to partner brands with a view to market launch in late 2016.
Happy Finish global CEO Stuart Waplington shared, “Retail is always one of the first markets to adopt new and emerging technologies. We have seen the retail industry successfully adopt VR and AR and we have even been heavily involved in the process – which means diversifying into AI is a natural next step for us.”
Happy Finish will use its first-hand market experience to support its diversification into AI. According to Markets & Markets, the global market for AI is set to be worth $5.05 Billion by 2020. Rapid adoption of AI is set to transform a range of markets, including advertising and media, finance and retail, offering benefits such as improved productivity and increased customer satisfaction.
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.
