JURIES : RAHUL MATHEW, CCO, DDB MUDRA GROUP: INDIA CREATIVITY RISES IN ITS OWN WAY
Rahul Mathew is happy to tell you that he is “fiercely competitive, a big believer in teamwork, a relentless dreamer and gloats just right about his wins and hurts just enough from his losses”.
That grit has helped him to get to the top creative spot at DDB Mudra Group and contribute to its being ranked No.1 in Asia and No.12 in the world by WARC. DDB Mudra Group is now one of India’s most awarded creative companies with back-to-back wins at Cannes Lions 2018, 19 & 21, No.2 at Effie India 2020, winner of Grand Prix at Spikes 2019 & 21 and golds at WARC & WARC Prize for Asian Strategy. And under his leadership, the Group has been awarded the inaugural D&AD Impact prize fund, won an impressive collection of awards and honours at Cannes Lions, Spikes Asia, One Show and D&AD Impact, and was recognised as one of the Top 20 Most effective and creative agencies in the world by Effie Index 2020.
Rahul is Jury President of Film Lotus, Outdoor Lotus, Press Lotus and Radio & Audio Lotus for ADFEST 2023. We managed to get ten minutes of his time to talk about creativity in India.
CREATIVE CONFIDENCE
Indian creativity has always existed. But I think that there is a lot more confidence in how we are expressing our local creativity on the global stage now. That’s the big change that has happened. I think we are far more confident about what works for us as a nation and far more confident about making sure that it is represented in a very authentic manner. I also feel that in the last few years there has been a big shift in how we are using technology and how social has evolved for us as a way of communicating, some of it an effect from Covid. And it is starting to play out in award shows.
NEW FIELDS OF PLAY
Another big difference is in the categories in which India is competing. Again, this is a reflection of the change in the nature of the work happening in India. I’ve not seen us scoring big in categories like digital or social before. Traditionally it was more print or outdoor. That’s a big shift for us. I don’t recall seeing much of India’s work in either print or outdoor lately or at ADFEST. And that’s such a statement about the nature of the work evolving.
FINDING PURPOSE
The third change is purpose. India is a developing nation that has got such disparity in terms of society and that comes with many problems. Brands today are interested in solving, or partnering and playing a role in changing, society’s troubles. This gives agencies more opportunity to do work that is more society-shaping and to solve things that are probably more cultural in nature, so a lot of purpose work is being produced as well as turning up at shows.
RISE AND RESILIENCE
Covid made business tough. It settled here into operations, into business, and into how people thought about the future. It threw everyone off and we didn’t really come out of Covid into an extremely stable world. It’s a little unsure now with things like the war and the looming recession. A feeling of fear does exist. In India, while our economy is doing a little better than others, so it’s not doom but I think that one thing Covid taught us, which has become part of our DNA, is resilience. I think that is reflected in everything we are doing right now. We’re more likely to hustle to make things happen. We’re figuring out if there is a way to choose that’s not the only way we knew, because we’ve learned new ways of living and new ways of operating during Covid. Most of those habits are stuck on and while we are coming back into a world that’s now less hybrid and more like the previous normal one, I think we are carrying some of what we learnt and that should make us stronger for whatever comes in the future.
