INDIA: One of India’s most celebrated advertising creatives, Ravi Deshpande, will be Jury President for Direct Lotus at ADFEST 2010.
Deshpande is famous for building Contract into one of India’s most awarded agencies after joining the agency in 1987. Within a few years, he led the agency to win over 400 local awards for creative excellence along with awards at ADFEST, Cannes, One Show, D&AD, Clio and other global festivals.
“I’m very excited about being Jury President at ADFEST. They say necessity is the mother of invention, and I think the Global Financial Crisis has created a situation where being innovative is imperative. We are either creative or we perish. At ADFEST 2010, I expect to see work that is more responsible as well as being highly creative,” says Deshpande.
Deshpande has been recognized for his ‘Outstanding Contribution to the advertising industry in India’ and honored as one of the six living legends of Indian advertising in the last 50 years by the Advertising Club in Madras.
“We are honored that Ravi has accepted our invitation to be Jury President for Direct Lotus at ADFEST next year. The Direct Marketing category is changing so fast with the emergence of new technologies and media channels, so it is wonderful to have someone of Ravi’s caliber sharing their expertise with the rest of the region,” says Jimmy Lam, President of ADFEST.
In 2005, Deshpande re-joined Contract as Chief Creative Officer after he launched an agency called Lemon. In 2008, he was promoted as Chairman at Contract. Under his leadership, Contract is emerging again as one of India’s most promising agencies, with a steadily expanding roster of national and multi-national brands.
