AD Agencies
Medulla Communications leads Indian medal tally at The Rx Club Show, NYC
MUMBAI: Medulla Communications, a specialist healthcare advertising agency, leads the Indian medal tally at The Rx Club Show– one of the most prestigious international awards for creativity in healthcare advertising.
The agency bagged a gold and a silver, of the 8 golds and 14 silvers awarded at this 2014 edition of the Awards. In fact, Indian agencies have come of age in global healthcare advertising, with a total gold and silver tally of five out of the 22 awarded this year.
The gold was won on work done for Janssen Pharmaceuticals’ brand Stugeron, used in vertigo treatment, while the silver was won on a campaign developed for Johnson & Johnson’s brand, Nicorette.
The other big winners at The Rx Club Show 2014 from across the world have been Ogilvy CommonHealth, Publicis, FCB Health, Havas, and Digitas Health among others.
Founded in 1986, The Rx Club Show has grown to become an international icon in the healthcare industry. The show is judged in various categories by a panel of industry experts and is based solely on creativity. Like every year, this year’s judges panel too included the leading creative resources from the global healthcare advertising industry including Ross Thomson, Gene Black, Grant King, Robin Shapiro and several others.
Medulla founder-director Praful Akali, an alumnus of The Indian Institute of Management said, “What’s exciting is that we’ve won for work on big clients that follow the strongest possible marketing rigour. These awards demonstrate that creativity is just as important in healthcare as any other specialist advertising domain.”
AD Agencies
WPP appoints Hephzibah Pathak CEO of WPP Creative India
Ogilvy India chair takes charge of unified creative model in key market
NEW DELHI: WPP has appointed Hephzibah Pathak as chief executive officer of WPP Creative India, putting a local leader at the helm of its newly created creative operating model in one of its most important growth markets.
The move brings clarity to how WPP’s global restructuring will play out in India, weeks after the group unveiled WPP Creative as part of its Elevate28 strategy. The unit sits alongside WPP Media, WPP Production and WPP Enterprise Solutions, and is designed to simplify what the company previously described as an overly complex structure.
Pathak, who continues as executive chairperson of Ogilvy India, will represent all agencies under the WPP Creative umbrella in India. Her role centres on driving integration across brands, expanding capabilities and ensuring clients can tap into the network’s full talent pool without friction.
WPP said Pathak will work closely with agency brand CEOs to “enhance integration, expand capabilities, and ensure seamless client access”, while maintaining the distinct identities of its agencies.
The portfolio under WPP Creative includes leading networks such as VML, Landor, AKQA and Grey, along with Burson and its affiliated firms. Leaders across these agencies will now report into Pathak, even as each brand continues to operate independently within a unified system.
The appointment also formalises a dual-track strategy in India, preserving agency identities while accelerating collaboration. Pathak is expected to work closely with media leadership to align creative and media capabilities, reflecting growing client demand for integrated, multi-market solutions.
WPP Creative global CEO Jon Cook has described the unit as “not an agency” but an operating system that helps creative, design and PR brands work together more effectively. The group has been clear that it is not merging or phasing out legacy agency brands, instead aiming to reduce complexity on the client side.
Pathak brings nearly three decades of experience within the network, having joined in 1997 and held roles ranging from Mumbai office head to chief client officer. She made history in 2024 as the first woman to lead Ogilvy India in its 95-year presence in the country.
Her expanded mandate positions India at the centre of WPP’s Asia-Pacific strategy, with a focus on strengthening brand presence, deepening client relationships and unlocking growth in a fast-evolving market.
The appointment signals WPP’s intent to move beyond the traditional holding company model towards a more integrated, AI-enabled structure. With Pathak now steering WPP Creative India, the group appears set to test whether simpler structures can indeed deliver sharper creative outcomes.
