MAM
Kyoorius with D&AD honors best Indian advertising works
MUMBAI: Kyoorius in association with D&AD announced the winners of the 2014 Kyoorius Advertising & Digital Awards at the awards ceremony.
The night was a celebration of the best in Indian creativity with over 1200 creative professionals from the advertising and digital spheres and clients from across India and some from around the world in attendance. Content & storytelling studio – Addikt – was brought in from Amsterdam to create an out of the ordinary experience – a powerful, multi sensory experience that brought the winning work to the fore.
Hosts Kamal Sidhu and Suresh Venkat entertained the audience through the wee hours of the night, accompanied by Dutch performance artist Ken, as well as Indian rock band The Other People and DJ Hiren.
A total of 988 entries were submitted across Advertising and Digital. From the 114 In-book winners, a total of 37 Blue Elephants and 4 Black Elephants were awarded at the ceremony across the advertising and digital.
Grey Worldwide, Ideas@Work, Ogilvy & Mather, Publicis India, Famous Innovations, Happy Creative Services, Hungama Digital Services, Creativeland Asia, Soho Square, Scarecrow Communications, Thought Blurb, DDB Mudra, Candid Marketing, BBDO India, BBH, Webchutney, Fractalink Design Studio, Isobar, iContract and Sapient were amongst the many in-book winners at the 2014 Kyoorius Advertising Awards & Kyoorius Digital Awards.
In-book winners were also nominees for Blue Elephants; the two juries awarded a total of 37 Blue Elephants, with 24 Blue Elephants awarded in Advertising and 13 in Digital. Across the advertising categories, 24 Blue Elephant winners included campaigns by Grey Worldwide, Ogilvy & Mather, Publicis India, Sapient, DDB Mudra, Happy Creative Services, BBDO, Ideas@Work, Scarecrow, BBH, Soho Square, Creativeland Asia, First December Films and Candid Marketing.
And at the digital awards, 13 Blue Elephant winners included works by Hungama Digital Services, Creativeland Asia, Fractalink Design Studio, Webchutney, Sapient, 120 Media Collective, BBH India, DDB Mudra, NicheMinds, and Ogilvy & Mather.
Four Black Elephants were awarded to groundbreaking work that redefined the category it was entered in, by creating a new conversation with its audience, or a transformational impact on the industry.
DDB Mudra were awarded a Black Elephant for The Last Telegram (Category: Direct Response), a direct response campaign that saw an opportunity to commemorate the final day of India’s telegram service by reminding Birla Life Insurance customers to think about their future.
Ogilvy & Mather took home three Black Elephants in three categories.
The Good Road – Created for Bangalore Traffic Police and Castrol India (Category: Technological Innovation). In the campaign, a helmet was designed to remind bikers about road safety and motorbikes would only start once the helmet was worn by the rider.
CleftToSmile – Created for Operation Smile India (Category: Use of Social Media). This social media campaign transformed a simple combination of keyboard characters into an identity and highly successful Twitter campaign for Operation Smile India’s Cleft to Smile initiative.
Google ‘Reunion’ – Created for Google India (Category: Online Branded Films). Ogilvy & Mather created a film that highlighted Google’s search engine by creating a touching story with the India- Pakistan partition as a backdrop.
“Considering this was our first year for the Advertising Awards & Digital Awards, the response has been outstanding. The 988 entries across Advertising and Digital are further validation of the Kyoorius Awards format, and our association with D&AD. We will continue to provide a neutral and transparent platform for the Indian creative industry,” said Kyoorius founder CEO Rajesh Kejriwal.
“We saw a great response for the Kyoorius Digital Awards, the first awards programme of its kind in India, recognising excellence in the field of digital communication. This is a solid indicator of the direction of creativity here in India. During the jury sessions, we saw a strong desire from jury members to constantly weigh in and consider the cultural context when judging the work. The importance of staying relevant to the Indian market was never overlooked, especially with the international jury,” added Kejriwal.
“D&AD is very proud to be partnering with Kyoorius in India. I hope we’ve brought some rigor and transparency to the judging process. Certainly the standard of work has been fantastic – something we saw demonstrated at D&AD’s own professional awards three weeks ago in London, where Indian agencies had multiple in-book and nomination successes. Our commitment to this partnership is long-term. We look forward to an increased involvement with the Indian creative community as we develop our New Blood program with Kyoorius,” mentioned D&AD CEO Tim Lindsay.
Ogilvy & Mather emerged as the most awarded agency, with 45 In-book wins, seven Blue Elephants and three Black Elephants. Alongside the Elephant winners all nominations will be featured in the Kyoorius Advertising Awards Annual and the Kyoorius Digital Awards Annual — distributed to over 5000 corporates and creatives across India — providing an invaluable and un-rivaled source of creative inspiration.
Brands
IndiGo names William Walsh CEO
Former IATA chief to take charge in August after Elbers exit, Bhatia steers interim
India’s biggest airline has moved fast and gone global. InterGlobe Aviation, which operates IndiGo, has tapped aviation heavyweight William Walsh as chief executive officer, subject to regulatory approvals, marking a sharp pivot as the carrier eyes its next burst of expansion.
Walsh, currently director general at the International Air Transport Association, will step down on July 31, 2026, and is expected to take charge by August 3. The appointment comes barely three weeks after Pieter Elbers exited the corner office, with Rahul Bhatia holding the fort in the interim.
The choice signals intent. Walsh brings decades of cockpit-to-boardroom experience, having led British Airways and later International Airlines Group, the parent of Aer Lingus, Iberia and Vueling. His tenure across carriers has been defined by hard resets, restructurings and cross-border consolidation—skills IndiGo may need as competition intensifies and scale becomes decisive.
Vikram Singh Mehta, chairman and non-executive independent director of IndiGo, said Walsh’s experience in managing large-scale airline operations and navigating complex market dynamics makes him well-suited to lead IndiGo in an increasingly competitive global aviation environment, adding that the appointment marks a new chapter as the airline scales in one of the world’s fastest-growing markets.
Rahul Bhatia said Walsh’s global perspective, operational expertise and customer-focused approach would be critical as IndiGo enters its next phase of expansion.
Walsh, widely regarded as one of the industry’s most influential figures, will oversee overall management and strategic direction, with a mandate spanning operational performance, network expansion, commercial strategy and customer experience. He is expected to work closely with the board and leadership team to sharpen IndiGo’s growth trajectory.
Walsh said IndiGo has a strong foundation and is well-positioned to capitalise on the evolving aviation landscape, adding that he looks forward to fostering a culture of excellence, innovation and sustainable value creation across the organisation.
A new captain, a bigger runway—and a market that rewards scale. IndiGo is lining up for its next take-off.
