AD Agencies
Regionally & globally, India is an essential market, says OMD APAC CEO Stephen Li
MUMBAI: In order to scale up its operations in India, Omnicom Media Group-owned agency OMD has entered in a partnership with DDB Mudra Group in India and brought a third brand titled ‘OMD MudraMax’ as an offering, by consolidating its media services business.
The collaboration entails the rebranding of the existing media business of DDB — TV, print, radio, and cinema & digital — as OMD MudraMax. The consolidation of DDB MudraMax and OMD is effective since November 17.
“This enables MudraMax to access the OMD Global Network for learning, development projects, strategic tools etc. It is a win-win and mutually beneficial collaboration for both, the Omnicom Media Group and the DDB Mudra Group. We have been working together over the last few months,” explained DDB Mudra Group Group CEO & managing director Madhukar Kamath.
The new entity will function as an additional local brand in the OMD network with access to the network efficiency, learning and tools such as VISION (live operating system designed to drive business growth not just media results) of the OMD global network.
“Both, regionally and globally – India is an essential market in every sense of that word, and one which is continuing to evolve and grow speedily. This partnership with DDB MudraMax will both add to our scale and further strengthen our presence,” shared OMD APAC CEO Stephen Li.
Under the consolidation, OMD MudraMax will be headed by DDB Mudra Group executive director and DDB MudraMax president Sathyamurthy N P.
“Apart from continuing to be being an integral part of the DDB Mudra Group and a key member of the Group Operating Board, Sathyamurthy Namakkal will now work closely with (Omnicom Media Group SEA and India CEO) Jasmin Sohrabji and be a part of her executive council too. I will give a lot of credit to Jasmin who saw great merit in this collaboration and worked hard to make OMD MudraMax happen,” Kamath shared.
About servicing existing clients, Kamath assured that there will be no change in any of the operations as all three brands will function independently. “In DDB MudraMax, most of the key clients were briefed about this development by Sathyamurthy Namakkal. Given the value adds that accrue to them, our clients are looking forward to the roll-out and success of the enhanced offering,” he added.
“DDB Mudra being a part of the Omnicom family is aligned to OMD’s culture which makes for a seamless transition,” Sohrabji said.
AD Agencies
Fevicol releases its last ad campaign by the late Piyush Pandey
The adhesive brand’s last campaign by the late advertising legend Piyush Pandey turns an everyday Indian obsession into a quietly powerful metaphor
MUMBAI: Fevicol has never needed much of a plot. A sticky bond, a wry observation, a truth that every Indian instantly recognises — that has always been enough. “Kursi Pe Nazar,” the brand’s latest television commercial, is no different. And yet it carries a weight that no previous Fevicol film has had to bear: it is the last one its creator, the advertising legend Piyush Pandey, will ever make.
The film, released on Tuesday by Pidilite Industries, fixes its gaze on the kursi — the chair — and what it means in Indian life. Not just as a piece of furniture, but as a currency of ambition, a vessel of authority, and a source of quiet social drama that plays out in every home, office and institution across the country. Who sits in the chair, who waits for it, and who eyes it hungrily from across the room: the film transforms this sharply observed cultural truth into a narrative that is, in the best Fevicol tradition, funny, warm and instantly familiar.
The campaign was Pandey’s idea. He discussed it in detail with the team before his death, but did not live to see it shot. Prasoon Pandey, director at Corcoise Films who helmed the commercial, said the team needed five months to find its footing before they felt ready to shoot. “This was the toughest film ever for all of us,” he said. “It was Piyush’s idea, magical as always.”
The emotional weight of that responsibility was not lost on the team at Ogilvy India, which created the campaign. Kainaz Karmakar and Harshad Rajadhyaksha, group chief creative officers at Ogilvy India, described the process as “a pilgrimage of sorts, on the path that Piyush created not just for Ogilvy, but for our entire profession.”
Sudhanshu Vats, managing director of Pidilite Industries, said the film was rooted in a distinctly Indian insight. “The ‘kursi’ symbolises aspiration, transition, and ambition,” he said. “Piyush Pandey had an extraordinary ability to elevate such everyday observations into iconic storytelling for Fevicol. This film carries that legacy forward.”
That legacy is considerable. Over several decades, Pandey’s partnership with Fevicol produced some of the most beloved advertising in Indian history, building the brand into something rare: a household name that people actively enjoy watching sell to them.
“Kursi Pe Nazar” does not try to be a tribute. It simply tries to be a great Fevicol film. By most measures, it succeeds — which is, in the end, the most fitting send-off of all.
