Rajesh Ramaswamy or Ramsam as most of them call him has spent 18 years in advertising and was heading Creative South, in the position of ‘Executive Director’ at Lowe Lintas, Bangalore. He’s also an ad film director, having directed more than 50 ads in various languages and genres. And a few short films. ...Ramsam is now the founder of a place ‘The Script Room’, a hub for writers, that focuses and trips on writing for both short and long formats. A post graduate in management from the Bangalore University, Ramsam takes pride in the fact that he belongs to the great Indian middle class and the same things that appeal to this tribe appeals to him as well. His tastes are very much like what most ordinary Indians like. And it has remained so, despite being in advertising. Ramsam is proud of some of the campaigns he’s done including Fastrack, Tanishq, Flipkart, Hike Messenger, Bharat Matrimony, Flying Machine, Phone-Pe and lots and lots of Britannia, US Polo, Sonata Watches, Star Sports, Netflix, Oyo Rooms etc. His most popular work includes the campaigns for Tanishq, (second marriage, Deepika Padukone and mother, Tanishq Diwali etc.) the ‘move on’ campaign for Fastrack, Tanishq Mia ‘Best at work’, Netflix ‘so what are you watching?’, ‘Kanna Keep Calm’ campaign for starsports.com, ‘got a gang, get on hike’, and most recently the ‘drinks and memories’ campaign for Paperboat, which he also directed himself. The campaign that is closest to his heart is the one he did for UB Export, a local beer brand in Kannada called ‘Yella Ok. Cool Drink Yaake?’, which got him noticed in the industry as well as reassured his confidence that he should be in advertising. Insanely crazy about Bollywood, music (all sorts), biking, and yes advertising. It is as much his hobby as it is his occupation. Actually, this list is endless because he has a new interest almost every other day.

Rishabha is the National Head of Strategic Planning at 82.5 Communications, an India-first agency from the Ogilvy Group. With more than 18 years of experience across advertising, marketing and entrepreneurship, Rishabha has been a part of building and nurturing many brands at different points in their lifestage. ...

Rishabha believes that the way to build brands in the future needs to be one that is collaborative. He believes brands need to move out of the mould of offering a product / service to the consumer. They need to offer the consumer a ‘shared purpose’ and a canvas to express and achieve that jointly.

A veteran of the advertising industry with an experience of 27 years of decorated excellence with some of the top agencies, like Lowe, JWT, Mudra to name a few. He has worked across a portfolio of top-tier clients like Unilever, Bajaj, ICICI Bank, Jet Airways, A veteran of the advertising industry with an experience of 27 years of decorated... excellence with some of the top agencies, like Lowe, JWT, Mudra to name a few. Now he is training on training and mentoring the next generation of professionals. He serves as an adjunct faculty member at the prestigious Sir JJ institute of Applied Art. He also lectures in Wellingkar Institute of Management, IGTC, IIM to name a few.

As a professional as well as a trainer Zahir believes in the gig economy growing. What we call free-lancers will be the normal way of working in the future. With the advancement of technology, it would get easier to work on any project from anywhere.

Informal will be the new normal.

An alumnus of Sir J. J. Institute of Applied Art, Sarang Kulkarni is a Type Designer and Calligrapher from Mumbai, India. In 2005, he started ‘WhiteCrow’– a Design Studio that has steadily found its niche in multi-lingual branding, bespoke type design and calligraphy across Indian scripts. He is also one of three co-founders of ‘Ek Type’– ...an award-winning collaborative type foundry started in 2013, that specialises in developing single and multi-script fonts across Indian languages.

Most of Ek Type fonts are Open Source and available on Google fonts. Sarang has designed the Modak, Gotu and Baloo (Devanagari) Typefaces for Ek Type. Apart from his commercial ventures, Sarang conducts workshops related to multi-script typography in conferences, advertising / design agencies and design schools. He is the current secretary of the ‘Aksharaya society’– a non-profit that collectively documents, promotes, explores and creates awareness about Indian scripts. Sarang has received AGI membership in 2019.

Achyut Palav is an Indian calligrapher of international repute. With his unique approach to the art, he has made significant contribution in reviving the glory of Indian calligraphy. Through various exhibitions and workshops in India and abroad, he has demonstrated calligraphy in Devnagari, Roman and other Indian languages. ...An alumnus of the prestigious Sir J.J. Institute of Applied Art, Achyut Palav has worked with eminent Indian and foreign calligraphers. His letters seek the hidden subtlety, energy and emotions behind words and capture their meaning in an artistic manner. He believes that each letter is a design in itself and a letter has the potential of a becoming a piece of art. His works are the result of skillful blending of conventional and unconventional tools and mediums. His calligraphy has been used in advertising, fashion, electronic media, interiors and architectures, events and many more. Many a prominent individuals, organizations and museums have his creations in their collection. His initiatives have brought Indian scripts into public interest and inspired many young artists and students to look at calligraphy in a whole new light. His vibrant and creative demonstrations are very informative. He has to his credit prestigious invites and participation in various international events. Achyut Palav has scores of publications, exhibitions and awards to his name befitting the tremendous work he has done. He has conceptualized and executed ventures like calligraphy festivals, research tours, awards and academic ventures. He has made significant contribution to the upkeep of the traditional and modern calligraphy and promoted calligraphy in all spheres of life.

Saba Gaziyani is a pint-sized revolution in the F&B world. India’s foremost Food Stylist, actually giving a definition to the term when she started out in 19., Saba is today on the speed dial of global food majors; ad film makers and packaging giants, directing ad films and table-top shots. That is when she is not innovating an entire ...new recipe for her lip smacking, ready to eat chutneys and curry brand - As Chef’s Cook.

An alumnus of the illustrious IHM, Mumbai, Saba set-up Food Photographics, India’s only dedicated Food Photography Studio in 2004. Indian ad world’s most loved and wanted, almost every third food image that beckons you from ad-films, print-ads, digital screens, hoardings, packaging, menus or leaflets, has been styled or shot by the deft hands of Saba Gaziyani.

Martin Prihoda is a Canadian born advertising and celebrity fashion photographer now living in Goa. Since moving to India in 2009 he has worked with top celebrities such as Salman Khan, Virat Kohli and Priyanka Chopra. With a keen eye for dramatic lighting and portraiture, Martin's work has graced the pages of several international magazines such as ...Vogue, GQ and Harper's Bazaar.

Working with ad agencies like Lowe Lintas, Ogilvy and JWT has further cemented Martin's reputation as one of India's top Editorial and Advertising photographers. His style is characterized by unique off camera lighting, resulting in often vividly powerful portraits. He is also the founder of the Chop Shop Barber and Brand, India's first New York hipster style Barbershop lifestyle brand. Martin is passionate about the creative process, collaboration and brand building.

Sairam Krishnamurthy is the Head of Sales at Ola, India’s leading mobility platform and one of the world’s largest ride hailing companies. An alumnus of Indian Institute of Management Bangalore, Sairam has over 14 years of experience in Sales and Marketing. He has spent most of his career in Hindustan Unilever Limited, ...working across categories like Personal Care and Foods. He is passionate about the changing consumer landscape, and the implications for branding and marketing. Having led transformation agendas in his different roles, he believes that a market place approach is the future- not just for commerce, but for talent as well.

Ved joined Discovery as marketing head in Dec 2016 and subsequently had his role expanded to manage original content for the premium network brands (Discovery, Animal Planet & TLC). Over the past 3+ years he has managed ATL & digital marketing along with 50+ hours of long form, short form original productions....

Prior to Discovery Ved has 10 years of core marketing experience in e-commerce (Amazon India), FMCG (Mondelez International) and Advertising (Ogilvy) sectors across India and Asia Pacific driving success in achieving the twin peaks of marketing – creativity and effectiveness.

He has a successful track record in developing brand strategies, heading development, media management and creation & delivery of best in class initiatives. He has also championed the establishment of best practices, process innovation and setting up of a robust partner ecosystem across organizations.

Emre started his career as a lighting technician and camera assistant in the Film and Television Industry in Istanbul, Turkey in 1999. Then, he moved into Photography in 2004 as an assistant for a Fashion & Product Photographer. After 16 years years of immense experience under his belt as a Commercial as well as ...Editorial Photographer working for many leading global & local Advertising Agencies such as Young&Rubicam, TBWA Worldwide, Medina Turgul DDB, Rafineri, Publicis Worldwide, Ogilvy & Mather Advertising, Alice BBDO, MullenLowe Lintas, Happy People Project, Leo Burnett, JWT, Grey, YouthWorks DNA, Havas Worldwide, RDB CG, Tribal Worldwide-Istanbul & Nurun to name a few & famous Publications such as Men's Health, Women’s Health, Elle, Elele & Instyle. He continued his career with ‘Rpresenter’ who are pioneers in advertising productions and manages local as well as international advertising photographers and CGI studios. He has worked for many eminent Brands such as Vodafone, Adidas, Nestle, Efes Beer, Casper, Algida, BMW, Siemens, Cappy Juice, Nescafe, ING Bank, Gillette, Land Rover, Clear, Volkswagen, Dacia & Axe. His work has won him many accolades at big International Award Shows, ‘Cannes Lions’ being one of them and Kirmizi Odulleri, a reputed local Advertising Award Show, in Turkey.

Prashanth Challapalli is the co-founder and Managing Partner of Gravity Integrated. He is a multi-award-winning brand strategist, a very successful P&L leader across two start-ups in the digital communications space, a proven team builder....

Gravity Integrated works with C-Suite clients to help build, sustain and grow profitable businesses. We don’t ask for briefs. We ask for the hardest business problems businesses want to solve. Gravity Integrated brings together Business strategy, Consumer strategy, Marketing Communications and Technology to create and implement bespoke solutions to ensure brand relevance and financial growth.

Prashanth’s career spans 22 years across space selling, advertising, entertainment marketing & digital communications.

From 1998 to 2009, he worked in agencies such as Ogilvy & Mather, Lowe Lintas, Y&R, Dentsu India and Publicis Ambience, handling key brands like Lakme, Fair & Lovely, Pepsodent, FedEx, Rasna, DHL, Thomas Cook, Zee TV, Marico and Exide.

In 2009, he co-founded Jack in the Box Worldwide, one of the most heavily awarded digital agencies in India, handling the digital and content duties for brands like Puma, RedBull, Pepsi, 7Up, L’Oreal Paris, Louis Philippe, Jack Jones, Conde Nast & was also responsible for India’s biggest viral campaign - Kolaveri Di for Sony Music. He then went on to run iContract for 3.5 years, creating award winning campaigns for blue chip brands like Google, YouTube, Pepsi Slice, Amazon Kindle, Shoppers Stop, Dettol, Durex and Hotstar among several others.

Bringing these diverse experiences together, he joined The Leo Burnett Group as its Chief Integration Officer in 2017 where he successfully drove the integration culture and business results on brands like Google, McDonald’s & HPCL among others. He is one of the flagbearers of the Publicis Groupe’s Power of One philosophy, successfully harnessing the power of creative, data, marketing, media, production, entertainment and PR to solve clients’ business problems.

He last served as the Chief Operating Officer of Leo Burnett Orchard with offices in Bombay and Bangalore handling some of India’s biggest brands like Google, Amazon, Ola, Food Panda, Caterpillar, Colors TV, Voot, Emami & VW among others.

Kartik, started his journey with a BFA in Applied arts and quickly graduated to Cinematography from The Los Angeles Film School.
With over 400 advertising commercials, 9 feature films and multiple shorts including Moon Molson’s ‘The Bravest, The Boldest’ that premiered at the Sundance Film Festival 2014,... he has worked on films that have snagged honours at some leading festivals including the Cannes Lions for advertising.
His feature, ‘Manto’, premiered at Cannes 2018 in the ‘Un Certain Regard’ section, and ‘The Garden of Evening Mists’ premiered at the 2019 Busan International Film Festival and got 9 nominations, including ‘Best Cinematography’ at ‘The Golden Horse Film Festival 2019’.

His international work includes Tom Lin’s ‘The Garden of Evening Mists’, Wei-Hao Cheng’s ‘The Soul’ (in post-production) and Pratibha Parmar’s ‘My Name’s Andrea’ (in production).

In India, his work includes Dibakar Banerjee’s ‘OyeLucky! Lucky Oye!’, Vishal Bhardwaj’s ‘Matru Ki Bijlee Ka Mandola’, Nandita Das’s ‘Manto’ and Sooni Taraporevala’s ‘Yeh Ballet’.

He currently lives in Bombay, India.

Deelip Khomane is not an unfamiliar name in the world of Advertising & Design. He is a brilliant Artist-Illustrator, whose work is very well-known in the commercial as well as fine art industry. After standing out amongst his peers as a gold medalist from Sir. J. J. School of Arts, Mumbai., he started his career... as a creative illustrator in advertising industry. He has worked on many eminent Brands such as Vodafone, Cadbury, Mentos, Fevicol, Colgate & HUL to name a few. His career really catapulted when he got an opportunity to work with Ogilvy, Mumbai., and in no time, he went on to become the favourite creative illustrator of the Living Legend in Indian Advertising none other than Mr. Piyush Pandey himself.

His career has spanned over more than 2 decades of sheer brilliance, his work style is extremely versatile ranging from realistic, stylised to contemporary illustrations, bringing him a lot of accolades from the top national as well as international awards shows, such as D&AD, Cannes Lions, The One Show, LIA-London International Awards, Spikes Asia, Goa Fest & Kyoorius Awards for his excellent work as a Creative Illustrator.

Ronny Sequeira; in the photography world, is a name that is known to frame brands in the correct line of sight. Yes, most often with a celebrity that lends to the aura.

His work for Adidas, LG, Yamaha, Lays, Pepsi, Hindware,...Voltas, Horlicks, Nescafe Airtel, Gulf, Castrol, Kellogg’s, Samsung, Dabur, Ford, Haier, Dettol, Fanta, Kurkure, Toyota, Sonata Watches, Miranda, Toshiba, Philips, Microsoft, Mountain Dew, ESPN, Kit Kat, Gold’s Gym, Pizza Hut, Aircel, Liril, Maggi, Britannia etc. speaks that over the years.

He started off making it to the Society’s Young Achievers Award in 2000. In 2008, he made it to the India TOP 10 Indian Photographers (Asian Photography) list and since has been creating epochal moments with superstars as enigmatic as Mahendra Singh Dhoni, Sachin Tendulkar, Saif Ali Khan, Kareena Kapoor, Juhi Chawla, Parineeti Chopra, and just recently shot with John Abraham for Yamaha.

With 18 years of experience in advertising photography, he still has the same desire as when he was a 10-year-old using his dad’s reflex camera to shoot his pet Alsatian. He is happiest when behind a camera or astride his Triumph motorcycle exploring the country.