MAM
Click, craft, conquer DMEA 2025 crowns digital’s brightest game-changers
MUMBAI: If digital were a sport, last night’s contenders didn’t just raise the bar they rewired it. The Digital Media Excellence Awards 2025 turned into a masterclass in clicks, craft, creativity, and clever engineering, celebrating the boldest work across India’s ever-evolving digital landscape. From automobile showstoppers to AI-powered wizardry, the winners’ circle sparkled brighter than a freshly optimised dashboard.
This year’s edition doubled down on what the industry does best: blending imagination with impeccable execution. Brands, agencies, creators, technologists, and strategists collided in a showcase of originality, proving once again that digital excellence isn’t a moment, it’s a mindset.
The evening kicked off with a turbocharged win for MiQ Digital Commercial Pvt Ltd, whose Gamified EV Experience for Bajaj Chetak cruised to Gold in the Automobile category. Schbang followed close behind with a Silver for its gripping campaign Grip That Never Lets Go.
Consumer electronics roared with Digixpressions Media Pvt Ltd clinching Gold for its ASUS India campaign showcasing a staggering 182 per cent jump in non-brand clicks. Healthcare and wellness saw mCanvas lift Gold for Bright Health Radiance Serum, while real-estate storytelling sparkled with Taboola’s Gold-winning Ashiana Swarang Senior Living Campaign.
Esports also had its victory lap with Max Level crowned Best Esports and Gaming Agency of the Year, scripting an epic win in the booming gaming universe.
This year’s campaign categories delivered a parade of hits.
RVCJ Digital struck Gold with Auto Expo 2025 under Branded Awareness, while Schbang picked up Silver for Bodysync by Enamor.
Purpose met performance as mrj India bagged Gold for Switch to Fluoride Free in both Public Awareness and Influencer Marketing, making it one of the night’s biggest multi-category winners.
CTV dominated conversations with mediasmart sweeping the space Gold for Voltas x Havas and Silver for Maybelline x Wavemaker, proving screens big and small can coexist (and convert).
Cross-channel excellence belonged to mediasmart again for its MG x IPG Mediabrands multi-screen strategy (Gold), with Disney Channel’s charming Doraemon Birthday Bash taking Silver.
Regional storytelling shone with RVCJ Digital earning Gold for Airtel – India’s first spam-fighting network, while the brand-new frontiers of OTT saw MiQ Digital win Gold for rural-marketing dynamo Swaraj Tractors Driving Rural Visibility.
Performance-driven brilliance lit up the second half.
In Content Marketing, mrj India took Gold again, while Digixpressions’ ASUS work landed Silver.
Data-driven mastery came from mediasmart with Gold for Glenfiddich x DDB Mudra, and Taboola earned Silver for its Philips Home Appliances campaign.
Festive cheer turned award-worthy thanks to Haldiram Snacks, crowned Gold for its festival campaigns, and RVCJ Digital’s iconic 5-Star “Do Nothing” snapped up Gold for Instagram Marketing.
MarTech, mobile, and moment marketing were a three-way triumph for mediasmart and mCanvas, with multiple Golds across categories from Voltas x Havas to Woodland: Itinerary Generator and Aditya Birla Sun Life: Investor Education.
Schbang turned waterproofing into social magic with Gold for Waterproofing ka Baap hai Dr. Fixit, while MiQ Digital and mediasmart shared honours for programmatic and performance marketing excellence.
Creativity stole the show as MiQ Digital picked up Gold for Streamed Ads Innovation, and mediasmart added a Silver for its MG multi-screen mastery.
Tech-driven campaigns had their own spotlight. Schbang secured Gold for AI/Gen-AI wizardry with Grip That Never Lets Go, while Nick India took Gold for Best Chatbot with its quirky Bittu Bahanebaaz WhatsApp Chatbot.
SEO supremacy belonged to Digixpressions Media, honoured with Gold for building BlinkX from scratch.
Website excellence saw Art-E Mediatech win Gold for its Crompton redesign, with Amura Marketing Technologies taking Silver for Amuratech.com.
The night also saluted individuals and teams rewriting the rules of digital.
Agency Head of the Year: Prady Kumaar, NP Digital India
Digital Personality of the Year: Saurabh Khattar, Integral Ad Science
Young Achiever of the Year: Prady Kumaar (doubling up with another win)
Agency Team of the Year: Concept PR – BFS Vertical
Exceptional performance from agencies resulted in RVCJ Digital taking home Digital Agency of the Year – Small, while Trinity Gaming was crowned Emerging Digital Agency of the Year.
DMEA 2025 wasn’t just an awards event, it was a reminder. A reminder that campaigns today are not built on platforms but on purpose, performance, precision, and personality. The winners didn’t merely adapt to the digital age; they shaped what it becomes next.
With categories expanding, creativity accelerating, and competition intensifying, one thing is certain, the digital story is only getting bigger, bolder, and brilliant by design.
And judging by this year’s winners, 2026 better buckle up.
Brands
Delhivery chairman Deepak Kapoor, independent director Saugata Gupta quit board
Gurugram: Delhivery’s boardroom is being reset. Deepak Kapoor, chairman and independent director, has resigned with effect from April 1 as part of a planned board reconstitution, the logistics company said in an exchange filing. Saugata Gupta, managing director and chief executive of FMCG major Marico and an independent director on Delhivery’s board, has also stepped down.
Kapoor exits after an eight-year stint that included steering the company through its 2022 stock-market debut, a period that saw Delhivery transform from a venture-backed upstart into one of India’s most visible logistics platforms. Gupta, who joined the board in 2021, departs alongside him, marking a simultaneous clearing of two senior independent seats.
“Deepak and Saugata have been instrumental in our process of recognising the need for and enabling the reconstitution of the board of directors in line with our ambitious next phase of growth,” said Sahil Barua, managing director and chief executive, Delhivery. The statement frames the exits less as departures and more as deliberate succession, a boardroom shuffle timed to the company’s evolving scale and strategy.
The resignations arrive amid broader governance recalibration. In 2025, Delhivery appointed Emcure Pharmaceuticals whole-time director Namita Thapar, PB Fintech founder and chairman Yashish Dahiya, and IIM Bangalore faculty member Padmini Srinivasan as independent directors, signalling a tilt towards consumer, fintech and academic expertise at the board level.
Kapoor’s tenure spanned Delhivery’s most defining years, rapid network expansion, public listing and the push towards profitability in a bruising logistics market. Gupta’s presence brought FMCG and brand-scale perspective during a period when ecommerce volumes and last-mile delivery economics were being rewritten.
The twin exits, effective from the new financial year, underscore a familiar corporate rhythm: founders consolidate, veterans rotate out, and fresh voices are ushered in to script the next chapter. In India’s hyper-competitive logistics race, even the boardroom does not stand still.
MAM
Meta appoints Anuvrat Rao as APAC head of commerce partnerships
At Locofy.ai, Rao helped convert a three-year free beta into a paid engine, clocking 1,000 subscribers and 15 enterprise clients within ten days of launch in September 2024. The low-code startup, backed by Accel and top tech founders, is famed for turning designs into production-ready code using proprietary large design models.
Before that, Rao founded generative AI venture 1Bstories, which was acquired by creative AI platform Laetro in mid-2024, where he briefly served as managing director for APAC. Alongside operating roles, he has been an active investor and advisor since 2020, backing startups such as BotMD, Muxy, Creator plus, Intellect, Sealed and CricFlex through a creator-economy-led thesis.
Rao spent over eight years at Google, holding senior partnership roles across search, assistant, chrome, web and YouTube in APAC, and earlier cut his teeth in strategy consulting at OC&C in London and investment finance at W. P. Carey in Europe and the US.
Brands
Brnd.me enters Europe as haircare brands power global expansion
Bengaluru: Brnd.me, the global consumer brands company formerly known as Mensa Brands, has entered the European market following strong momentum across the Middle East, the United States and Canada.
The company has launched across the UK, Germany, France and Spain, with plans to expand into Italy, the Netherlands and Poland over the next year. The push is being led by its haircare and aromatherapy brands, Botanic Hearth and Majestic Pure, marking Brnd.me’s first structured expansion into Europe.
The European beauty market represents a total addressable opportunity of over $4 billion across haircare and aromatherapy, supported by high digital adoption and demand for accessible, performance-led products.
Brnd.me’s hair care and aromatherapy business currently operates at an annual run rate of around $6 million, with Botanic Hearth and Majestic Pure delivering roughly 10 per cent month-on-month growth, driven by expansion and rising repeat demand.
To support regional growth, the company has appointed a general manager based in Germany and is evaluating investments in warehousing and local team expansion.
Early traction has been strong. Within weeks of launch, Botanic Hearth’s rosemary hair oil ranked among the top five hair oils in Germany, signalling strong consumer pull in a competitive market.
Brnd.me founder and chief executive officer Ananth Narayanan, said Europe represents the next phase of the company’s international strategy. He added that the European business is expected to scale to a $10 million annual run rate by the end of 2026, with long-term ambitions to reach $60 million over the next six years.
The company’s Europe strategy centres on digital-first distribution, repeat demand and TikTok-led discovery, alongside direct-to-consumer expansion to strengthen brand equity and margins.
The move also aligns with growing EU–India trade engagement, supporting long-term sourcing and cross-border supply chains.
-
iWorld3 months agoTips Music turns up the heat with Tamil party anthem Mayangiren
-
iWorld12 months agoBSNL rings in a revival with Rs 4,969 crore revenue
-
I&B Ministry3 months agoIndia steps up fight against digital piracy
-
MAM3 months agoHoABL soars high with dazzling Nagpur sebut
-
News Broadcasting5 days agoPalki Sharma leaves Firstpost: Reports
-
iWorld2 days agoNetflix celebrates a decade in India with Shah Rukh Khan-narrated tribute film
-
News Broadcasting6 months agoWion marks Independence Day with global showcase of India’s spirit
-
iWorld3 months agoThe Night Manager returns with new secrets, new spies and old scars
