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Tag: Ravi Deshpande

  • Locks by Godrej’ launches ‘Fear is Good’ campaign on Home Safety Day 2024

    Locks by Godrej’ launches ‘Fear is Good’ campaign on Home Safety Day 2024

    Mumbai:  The Locks & Architectural Fittings and Systems business of Godrej & Boyce, a part of Godrej Enterprises Group, celebrated Home Safety Day 2024, aimed at raising home safety awareness across India. To commemorate the occasion, Locks by Godrej unveiled its new campaign, ‘Fear is Good,’ aimed at encouraging Indian homeowners to view home safety as a proactive responsibility. In collaboration with Whyness Worldwide, led by acclaimed director Mr. Nikhil Mahajan, this powerful campaign urges audiences to reconsider the complacent belief of “it won’t happen to me” and instead embrace caution as a tool for safeguarding loved ones and property.

    This campaign aims to replace complacency with vigilance, making home safety a daily priority. The campaign drives the message that fear, when channelled positively, can empower homeowners to adopt safety as a lifestyle. Adding further depth to the campaign, renowned actor Makarand Deshpande joined as the campaign ambassador, bringing relatability and urgency to the message. His association is set to resonate strongly with the audience, inspiring homeowners to rethink their home safety approach and adopt practical steps to secure their homes.

    Godrej & Boyce EVP & business head, locks & architectural fittings & systems Shyam Motwani said, “Over the last three years, we conducted over 1.5 lakh home safety checkups across 3,500 pincodes, resulting in a 25% increase in safety adoption. This year’s Home Safety Day initiative reaffirms our commitment to the ‘Har Ghar Surakshit’ mission and underscores the importance of raising home safety awareness nationwide. The launch of the ‘Fear is Good’ campaign, along with the Advantis IoT9, is part of our ongoing efforts to make homes safer and more resilient. Partnering with  Whyness Worldwide has allowed us to engage homeowners in a meaningful way, encouraging them to embrace caution as a vital tool for protection.

    In tandem with this campaign, the brand also introduced the one-of-its-kind smart locking technology—the highly sophisticated Advantis IoT9, a revolutionary digital lock designed to meet the diverse security needs of modern households. The Advantis IoT9 is equipped with nine cutting-edge modes of access, including wearables, mobile NFC, Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, biometric, and RFID options, creating a comprehensive and futuristic safety solution that integrates seamlessly with today’s smart, connected homes.

    Whyness Worldwide founder & chairman Ravi Deshpande added, “Home safety is a topic that often gets overlooked, yet it is one of the most crucial aspects of everyday life. With the ‘Fear is Good’ campaign, we wanted to challenge the prevailing mindset of complacency and make safety a priority for every household. By tapping into relatable storytelling, we aim to make homeowners see the value of caution, and the importance of implementing the right safety measures, now more than ever. We are happy to collaborate with the ‘Locks by Godrej’ on this meaningful initiative. Their commitment to innovation and community safety resonates strongly with our approach, and together, we hope to drive real change in how people think about and address home safety.”

    With urban crime rates rising, highlighted by the National Crime Records Bureau’s report of 445.9 crimes per 100,000 people in 2024, home safety has never been more critical. Locks by Godrej emphasizes the importance of installing advanced digital locks, CCTV cameras, alarm systems, and motion sensor lights to deter crime. The brand also promotes community involvement through neighbourhood safety meetings and regular police patrolling. Reflecting Godrej & Boyce’s commitment to innovation, the company continues to invest in advanced R&D, introducing high-performance smart locks and expanding its product portfolio, including architectural fittings, to meet India’s evolving safety needs.

  • APG comes to India

    APG comes to India

    MUMBAI: Having made its mark as an acclaimed community of planners and strategists across the globe, the highly celebrated Account Planning Group (APG) is set to formally begin operations in India. Helmed by Sudeep Gohil of Publicis India with support from planners across top agencies, APG will begin its India chapter in the second week of December with an inaugural session that will see acclaimed adman and founder and chairman of Whyness Worldwide, Ravi Deshpande, present a session on culture and creativity.

    APG is a membership organisation that promotes smarter thinking. It is headquartered in London and has a presence in multiple markets across the globe. The India chapter will see the coming together of the planning community across leading agencies who together will leverage the power of strategy to solve business problems and transform brands. A core belief of the APG is the importance of equipping planners and strategists with the training and inspiration they need to be bold and rigorous thinkers – to this end, future events will focus on this function.

    Publicis India chief strategy officer and managing partner Sudeep Gohil says, “Globally, the APG is a well-established body with a number of countries including UK, Australia, Canada and Germany – successfully running their operations with partner agencies in individual markets. It was surprising that India, despite being the hub where so many great ideas take birth, didn’t have APG to bring together and celebrate achievements of the planning community. That will now be a thing of the past as we have set up a core committee for APG India that will work closely in formulating the core objectives and will also create a platform for people to engage, deliberate and debate. We are thankful to Ravi Deshpande for gracing the inaugural function, and we look forward to hosting similar events on a regular basis across the country.”

    The APG is a not-for-profit organisation run for and by its members, primarily account planners in advertising agencies but increasingly the wider community of communications strategists, including media planners, channel planners, digital planners and DM planners.

    Ravi Deshpande is a prominent creative leader who currently spearheads Whyness Worldwide, an integrated agency, and Ecole Intuit lab, a French design school, on the same campus. Prior to that, he was at the helm of Contract India, a WPP company as chairman and chief creative officer, leading the agency to over 600 national and international awards as it became India’s premier creative force.

    The session will be held at the newly opened MTV@FLYP, Kamala Mills, Lower Parel on 13 December 2017, 6.30 pm onwards.

  • Contract Advertising appoints Ashish Chakravarty as its National Creative Director

    Contract Advertising appoints Ashish Chakravarty as its National Creative Director

    MUMBAI :Contract advertising today announced the appointment of Ashish Chakravarty as its National Creative Director.

    A highly awarded advertising creative professional with over 20 years of experience, Ashish is known for

    creating some of the biggest brands in the country.

    In his role as NCD, he will be directly responsible for all creative output for Contract across all its verticals, which include mainstream advertising, iContract, Designsutra and Core Consulting. He will work closely with the senior creative team which includes Juju Basu, Kapil Mishra, Amod Dani, Kaushik Roy, Azazul Haque and Raymond Patel (Rayo) to provide the best solutions for Contract's clients, brands, and team.

    Ashish joins from McCann Worldgroup, Delhi where he was the Creative Chief. As part of his role, he has led the team to many successes across the brands he's worked on and several award winning pitches and campaigns. He has grown McCann, Delhi to the 3rd biggest single agency office in South Asia and amongst the top 2 awarded agencies in Delhi.

    "I am delighted to have Ashish join Contract as NCD, India. He is one of the most awarded and sought after creative professionals in the country. His experience of working with the best brands across agencies and his line-up of award winning work will bring in a huge value add to Contract and its clients. I welcome him back to Contract and look forward to him partnering me and Rohit Srivastava, Chief Strategy Officer, and the senior management team to deliver on our creative vision", says Rana Barua, Chief Operating Officer, Contract Advertising.

    Before joining McCann, Ashish was with Contract where he was part of the team that won Contract its first Silver Pencil; and made it the top internationally awarded agency in Delhi. He has also worked with Euro RSCG, TBWA and JWT, from where he started his career.

    "Contract has always had an iconic creative leadership, and I am conscious of the very large shoes, that I am stepping into. So naturally, I am excited with this opportunity to lead and shape the creative product of the agency from here on. I believe that when people with diverse talents and skills engage meaningfully and intensely, they create the truly unexpected and wonderful. Having worked with both Rana, and Rohit in the past, I am confident that we are on our way to make Contract a very exciting place for creatives, and clients alike", said Ashish Chakravarty.

    In the course of his career, Ashish has worked with some of leading brands in the country which include, Nescafe, Dabur, Coca Cola, Unicef, SAIL, ONGC, NIIT, Domino's, JK Tyre, Fortis, Mastercard, IREO and Nestle to name a few. He is credited with winning close to 150 national and international awards across categories and brands; and served as jury at Spikes, Adfest, CLIO and Goafest.

    He will succeed Ravi Deshpande who has left recently to pursue his own endeavours.

  • Kumar Subramaniam quits Contract

    Kumar Subramaniam quits Contract

    MUMBAI: Contract Advertising executive vice president Kumar Subramaniam has decided to move on from the company where he worked for three years. He headed the Mumbai Advertising operations of the agency and looked after its digital division iContract.

    Prior to Contract, Subramaniam worked at Ogilvy & Mather in various capacities like president at Brand David Communications, executive business director and vice president across the four stints he has had with the WPP agency.He also tried his hand at radio when he was with Radio city as a station head in Mumbai . Apart from this, he has worked with Mudra Communications (now part of The DDB Mudra Group) as account director.

    He started his career with Leo Burnett in 1991 as an account director.

    According to sources close to the development, Subramaniam is serving his notice period and his future plans are hitherto unknown. An announcement from him is expected some time next week.

    This is the second exit from Contract Advertising as the agency‘s chairman Ravi Deshpande called it a day after a stint of 25 years.

  • Ravi Deshpande quits Contract

    Ravi Deshpande quits Contract

    Mumbai: Contract Advertising chairman and chief creative officer Ravi Deshpande has decided to move on from the company after a stint of over two years.

    Deshpande is leaving Contract to pursue his personal passions.

    He will be with the agency till the end of June.

    “Ravi has contributed very significantly to the growth of Contract and I wish him all the very best in his future endevours. We are thankful for his contribution to make Contract one of the finest brands and organisations in the Indian advertising world”, Contract Advertising chief operating officer Rana Barua said.

    “Contract has been a part of me since the beginning of my career. It has been a truly great place. I am leaving with wonderful memories. I would like to thank everyone for this amazing journey. I wish everyone the very best for the future. In the true spirit of Grow Young, reinvention of oneself must continue”, Deshpande added.

  • Contract Advertising creates CNBC-TV8’s new campaign

    MUMBAI: Business news channel CNBC-TV18 has launched a new brand campaign titled ‘Hello Dreamers‘ that has been conceptualised and created by Contract Advertising.

    The 360 degree campaign will be launched in five markets – Mumbai, New Delhi, Bangalore, Kolkata and Ahmedabad, across television, print, OOH, digital, social media and radio.

    According to the channel, the objective of the campaign is two-fold. Firstly, to reiterate the channel‘s relevance with existing constituencies of viewers and secondly, to establish relevance with new audiences as a brand that assists them in realising their ambitions.

    Contract Advertising chairman and chief creative officer Ravi Deshpande said, “CNBC TV 18 has been the clear leader by far in the business news channel segment and has given a consistent leadership performance for the past 13 years. We needed to speak from this strong leadership position. We believe that the Hello Dreamers campaign delivers on this by engaging with a whole new generation of corporate leaders, businessmen and investors.”

    “‘Hello Dreamers‘ is a clarion call by CNBC-TV18. It aspires to be an inspiration to anyone with a business dream. It is an invitation to rise above the gloomy realities of the daily environment. It sees a world in which positive, proactive thinking can indeed make dreams come true,” Deshpande added.

    The TV ad vividly captures all the agony of having a dream and then the joy of making it happen. Meanwhile, the print ads and hoardings together position CNBC-TV18 as inspiration to anyone with a big dream.

  • American Tourister unveils its latest ‘Inseparable TVC

    Mumbai: Luggage brand American Tourister has launched a new television campaign to promote its new offer of tourist bags.
    Conceived by Contract Advertising, the new ‘Inseparable ad campaign highlights the identity of American Tourister through its new collection that is high on “quality” and “style”.

    It also has a ‘Jodi Offer (couple offer) which gives customers discount when buying a pair of American Tourister bags.

    The ‘Inseparable TVC is positioned with the onset of the wedding season and accompanying gifting opportunities at a time when people are planning their honeymoons and other vacations.

    The campaign is set in the city of Varanasi. The TVC captures the emotions of a foreign tourist who is separated from her partner amidst the crowd. With an American Tourister in hand, she embarks upon a hunt for her partner with the help of the people of Varanasi, who guide her by recognising her luggage.

    Contract Advertising chairman and chief creative director Ravi Deshpande said, “The latest television commercial, crafted around the unique offering of matched strolleys for couples, attempts to up the creative ante at different levels. It dials up the international quotient by showing the exotic side of Benaras, and brings in romance, with the idea of Inseparability.”

  • Firstpost.com rolls out new TVC focussing on journalists

    MUMBAI: Firstpost.com has launched its new commercial, which focuses on journalists. The campaign has been conceptualised and created by Contract Advertising.

    The commercial shows the unsung hero of the journalism world – the journalist, the source of knowledge, “walking miles, dodging gunfire and battling it out with critics”, only to get his/her effort out to the world – one day late.

    The TVC highlights the obvious flaw with the existing ‘newspaper‘ model, that of delivering the ‘daily‘ news the day after it has occurred, the company said.

    Firstpost.com VP Durga Raghunath said, “Our entire positioning is about digital first. With our first commercial we wanted to encourage readers to seek news the day it happens on Firstpost.com and with the second, we want readers to know that our growing team of journalists are and will be focused on digital. We want journalism to be broken and created for the web.”

    Contract Advertising chief creative officer Ravi Deshpande added, “While celebrating serious journalism, the film punctures it to make the point that newspapers bring you all that fiery passionate journalism a day late. Perhaps then, journalists may consider Firstpost to be a better place to work. And not just journalists, Firstpost are designed to be news that people consume while being on the move.”

  • American Tourister unveils a new brand campaign ‘Survive the World’

    American Tourister unveils a new brand campaign ‘Survive the World’

    MUMBAI: American Tourister has unveiled a new brand campaign, ‘Survive the World‘.


    The campaign is has been released as a music video on television in from September 24th following a release in cinemas nationally by the 2nd week of October.


    Taking a step forward from its previous campaigns ‘Survive Mumbai‘ and ‘Survive Istanbul‘, American Tourister‘s new campaign ‘Survive the World‘ completes the trilogy of the survival theme.


    Created in the rugged terrains of Jodhpur ‘Survive the World‘ captures a roller coaster ride enroute a thrilling journey.


    Conceptualised by Ravi Deshpande from Contract Advertising, the new brand campaign depicts the regular travel woes in a typical congested city anywhere in the world.


    The film showcases a tourist, who is caught in traffic frenzy on the way to the airport. With his 4-wheeler American Tourister luggage in tow, the tourist sets off on an enthralling escapade across the city to reach his destination in time.


    American Tourister marketing director Sudip Ghose says, “American Tourister is synonymous for its durability and extreme maneuverability. With this new brand campaign we aim to reinforce these brand attributes and establish a connect of travelling with ease even in the most toughest conditions.”