MAM
Trust issues solved NYK bets on Anushka Sen for real travel finds
MUMBAI: In an internet crowded with five-star fatigue, Nowyouknow is choosing friends over filters. The social-led travel and food discovery platform, better known as NYK, has roped in actor, singer and digital creator Anushka Sen as its brand ambassador and not just the poster face kind.
Founded by siblings Krishna and Pia Shivdasani, NYK is pitching itself as an antidote to algorithm-heavy discovery, where recommendations come not from strangers, but from people you actually trust. Think personal networks, shared taste and a carefully chosen set of creators, rather than anonymous ratings shouting into the void.
The timing is deliberate. As online discovery scales noisily, younger users are circling back to smaller, more credible signals, the café a friend bookmarked, the street food a creator genuinely revisits, the neighbourhood that made it into someone’s private notes. Sen’s content sits squarely in that lane. From cafés in Seoul and European backstreets to Indian street food joints, her recommendations are built on lived experience rather than viral intent.
That alignment runs deeper than a campaign brief. Sen has taken an equity stake in NYK, signalling a longer-term belief in its model. Her own habits maintaining personal lists, saving places and sharing notes within her circle mirror the behaviour NYK is trying to organise into one platform. Her food content, ranging from ramen experiments to casual cooking diaries, further strengthens the credibility play the app is making.
NYK’s founders argue that discovery today is scattered across Whatsapp chats, screenshots, bookmarks and half-remembered Reels. The platform aims to pull that chaos into a single space powered by what it calls a “taste graph” recommendations shaped by your circle and the creators you consciously choose to follow.
In a market as diverse as India, the company is making a pointed argument: a single aggregated score cannot capture personal preference. What matters is context who is recommending, and why you trust them.
With Sen on board, NYK is sharpening its core message. In a world run by algorithms, the most valuable recommendation still comes from someone you know or at least someone whose taste feels familiar.
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.
