MAM
Spikes Asia 2022: Dentsu Webchutney scores four Grand Prix awards
Mumbai: Dentsu Webchutney, a dentsuMB company and digital creative agency from dentsu Creative India has won five gold, five silver, five bronze and four Grand Prix at the recently concluded Spikes Asia 2022 Awards.
While ‘The Unfiltered History Tour’ for Vice Media won a total of four Grand Prix, five gold, four silver and five bronze, ‘The Better Half Recipes’ for Swiggy has won a silver. “These wins are a testament to Dentsu Webchutney’s year-after-year brilliant performance on the back of creativity and innovation,” said the agency in a statement.
“This is a huge accomplishment. Dentsu Webchutney is known for the unimaginable creativity it offers with every campaign. The four Grand Prix and the many metals are proof of what a network that nurtures some of India’s best creative minds can attain,” stated dentsu Creative India CEO Amit Wadhwa. “Huge kudos to everyone who worked on these projects and made magic happen! And what makes it even more exciting is that a similar excitement around the end product can be felt across all our creative units/agencies. Watch out for more exciting stuff from dentsu!”
“Time after time I get the opportunity to celebrate the success of my extremely talented colleagues and their fabulous pieces of work. This particular moment however seems like the start of something more special,” commented dentsuMB Group CEO Sidharth Rao. “All our ideas are special to us, but there’s something about our big winner this time – ‘The Unfiltered History Tour’ that gives us a sense of being more than just any other normal achievement. I’ve got some very special colleagues, past and present to thank for this.”
“This is a near-miraculous achievement,” remarked dentsu Creative India group chief creative officer Ajay Gahlaut. “The fact that these campaigns were created at the peak of the pandemic amidst a lockdown make them even more special. In the end, it has all been worth it. These are the people who are the real winners today and our success totally belongs to them.”
MAM
VML India lands two finalist spots at Cairns Hatchlings 2026
The Mumbai agency is back in Australia with two teams, a UN brief and 24 hours to impress
MUMBAI: VML India is heading to Australia again. The Mumbai-based creative agency has secured two finalist spots at the Cairns Hatchlings 2026 competition, one in the Audio category and one in Design, making it the only Indian agency to have reached the finals in both editions of the contest since its launch in 2025.
Four people will make the trip. Senior copywriter Shilpi Dey and senior art director Raj Thakkar will compete in Audio. Art directors Shabbir and Shruti Negi will go head-to-head with the world’s best in Design. The finals take place at the Cairns Convention Centre from 13th May, culminating in an awards ceremony on 15th May.
The work that got them there is worth examining. For the Audio category, Dey and Thakkar tackled a brief for LIVE LIKE MMAD with a campaign called Inner Voice, Interrupted. Using spatial audio techniques, the campaign recreates the overwhelming self-doubt that descends after a long workday, physically panning negative thoughts left and right before cutting the noise entirely to reveal a confident inner voice. Strategically targeted at commuters via Spotify during evening rush hours, the campaign reframes the hours after work as an opportunity for personal growth and charitable action.
For the Design category, Shabbir and Negi worked on a brief for Canteen’s Bandanna Day, a campaign highlighting how cancer pushes teenagers out of their own defining moments. Using a pixelated design language to create stark contrast between a blurred world of isolation and a focused world of connection, the campaign, titled The Flipside of Cancer, shows teenagers fading into the background of birthdays, skateparks and school proms. As a Canteen bandanna appears, the blur flips and the teenager snaps back into sharp focus.
Kalpesh Patankar, group chief creative officer of VML India, made no attempt to disguise his satisfaction. “We are immensely proud to see our teams consistently excel on the Cairns Hatchlings platform since its inception,” he said. “They have masterfully tackled challenging briefs across diverse categories, demonstrating both layered storytelling and a unique creative approach. This exceptional teamwork is truly inspiring.”
Dey and Thakkar, returning to the finals after last year’s run, were candid about the demands of the audio medium. “It’s one of the most demanding mediums, where we only have a few seconds to capture a listener’s world with sound alone, so absolute clarity is essential,” they said. “The true measure of creative work is its ability to create positive change, and our audio submission was made to help those who need it most while encouraging people to silence the inner voices that hold them back.”
Shabbir and Negi, competing in Design for the first time, described the experience as “a completely different beast.” “We see it as an opportunity to showcase our expertise, raise the bar, and challenge ourselves in new ways, while also learning from creative minds from across the globe,” they said.
In Australia, the four finalists will face a live 24-hour brief from the United Nations before presenting in a live pitch session. Twenty-four hours, one brief, one shot. VML India has been here before. It knows exactly what is at stake.
