MAM
To The New raises Rs 750 mn from Four Cross Media
MUMBAI: To The New, the company which holds Ignitee Digital Services, Tangerine and Intelligrape, has raised Rs 750 million from Four Cross Media.
The investment will be made in the India operations of To The New over a period of three years.
To The New said it will employ the renewed investments in further cementing its position in the Indian digital marketing industry by investing in people, technology, brand and infrastructure.
With the fresh corpus of investment from Four Cross Media, To The New said it will target revenues of Rs 25 billion over the next three years.
Looking for strategic acquisitions for growth, To The New had acquired Ignitee Digital Services in 2011.
Four Cross Media co-founder Puneet Johar said, “There has been a burgeoning demand for digital services in India over the last couple of years and we see this market rapidly growing. As Indian consumers spend more time online, we are seeing many more businesses working this to their advantage. We aim to strengthen the ‘To The New’ brand so that it becomes the partner of choice for businesses which have the strategic intent of reinventing themselves for the digital consumer.”
Four Cross Media is known for its investments in the Indian and ASEAN region. Since its inception, Four Cross Media has invested Rs 350 million in building the Indian business operations of To The New from ground-up and growing the organisation organically and through various strategic acquisitions.
Ignitee Digital Services CEO Atul Hegde commented, “We are delighted to be a part of the TO THE NEW network. With a young and enthusiastic group of individuals and global domain experts, we are confident that we will be able provide world-class service delivery to our clients in India. We will focus on investing in developing the right skill-sets as we find innovative ways to develop and execute campaigns for our clients.”
Founded in 2010, To The New offers a comprehensive range of digital services across marketing, media, content and technology.
Through its various business units, To The New collectively manages the mandates for around 50 clients in India, across diverse sectors including BFSI, automobiles, e-commerce, FMCG/retail, hospitality and media and entertainment.
To The New currently employs 300 people in India across its business units. As the industry continues to flourish, it is expected to ramp up the talent pool to 600 professionals in the next two years.
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.
