Pepper Creative Awards 2025 spotlight South India’s leading agencies

The 19th Pepper Creative Awards, positioned as a key recognition platform for advertising in South India, took place on December 5 at Le Meridien Kochi. The event brought together agency leaders and industry veterans, with Sonal Dabral, founder of Tribha and former vice chairman of Ogilvy India, attending as chief guest. Rajiv Rao, director at Nirvana Films, and Prathap Suthan, co-founder and CCO of Bang In The Middle, were guests of honour.

Be Positive 24 Innovation Design, based in Chennai, secured the evening’s leading honours, winning Agency of the Year as well as the newly introduced Grand Prix. Club FM (Mathrubhumi Group) was recognised as Advertiser of the Year. Regional awards went to Stark Communications (Best of Kerala), Freeflow Ideas (Best of Karnataka), and Prawal Media/Bigbears Advertising (Best of Telangana).

A wide range of agencies and production outfits participated across categories, including Happy Unicorn, Tempest Advertising, MIOT International Hospitals, Rush Republic, Plainspeak, MM TV, Red FM, Popkon Creatives, Mass Designs, KAL Radio, Mindmine Brand Communications, Human Stories, Fuse Art & Production, Mathrubhumi, Vertical Story and Navarasa Films.

Ahead of the awards ceremony, a panel discussion featuring Dabral, Rao and Suthan—moderated by Anupama Sajeet, Features editor at Manifest Media—reflected on the influence of Piyush Pandey. The session revisited his approach to storytelling and his long-standing impact on Indian advertising.

“This year we received more than 650 entries from ad agencies, media, production houses and photographers across South India,” said K. Venugopal, chairman, Pepper Trust. “The winners were selected after a two-round online judging by a panel of 14 jurors. From 350 shortlists, 140 trophies were awarded.”

More than 300 attendees participated in the event, which included an entertainment segment and a quiz conducted by Manorama Max. “The session took more than four hours to conclude, with strong participation from across the region,” added P.K. Natesh, chairman, Pepper Awards 2025.

(afaqs! got this information in a press release)