Rajdeepak Das, Senthil Kumar, Chandni Shah & Anupama Ramaswamy appointed as jury chairs for ABBY Awards 2025

The Ad Club today announced the first set of jury chairs for The ABBY Awards 2025 powered by One Show scheduled to take place at Goafest 2025 on May 21, 22 and 23, 2025 at Taj Cidade de Goa Heritage and Horizon, Goa.

Rajdeepak Das, chief creative officer, Publicis Groupe, South Asia and chairman, Leo Burnett, South Asia will chair the Video Film below 1 min duration category. Senthil Kumar, chief creative officer, VML India has been appointed to chair the Video Film Above 1 min duration category. Chandni Shah, founder and COO, FCB Kinnect is appointed as jury chair of the Mobile category. Anupama Ramaswamy, joint MD and chief creative officer, Havas Worldwide will chair the Diversity, Equality and Inclusion category.

Rajdeepak Das, currently leading the creative direction at Publicis Groupe India, has been appointed Jury Chair for the ABBY Awards 2025. He also heads a creative council aimed at improving output across the Groupe. His campaign for Whisper, titled The Missing Chapter, won a Grand Prix in the Sustainable Development Goals category at Cannes Lions 2022.

Rajdeepak Das led the PepsiCo Lays Smart Farms campaign, which won a Grand Prix at Spikes Asia 2024—PepsiCo India’s first Grand Prix. Under his leadership, Leo Burnett India has earned top honours at Cannes Lions, One Show, D&AD, and Spikes Asia. He also launched 'Apollo 11', a specialised unit within Leo Burnett India, made up of young professionals from diverse fields such as aerospace engineering, product design, data analysis, and environmental science, to work on brand and human-centred solutions.

Senthil Kumar is the Chief Creative Officer, VML India. Kumar is the spearhead of the creative firepower at VML India. He works with multilingual creative and digital teams across the country. He has built local brands like Wipro, The Times Of India, Tata Steel, TataGluco Plus, Himalayan, Apollo Tyres, Hero Motors etc. 

The Economic Times gave Senthil Kumar the coveted title of ‘Lion Hunter’ for winning India’s first Gold Lions in Film; Film Craft at the Cannes Lions International Festival. He holds the record of 27 Cannes Lions, also winning India’s first One Show Gold Pencils in Film, Film Craft and Film Innovation along with 24 D&AD pencils including the hallowed Yellow Pencil, the Spikes Asia Grand Prix in 2024 and Adfest Lotus Roots GrandPrix’, Clio Golds and New York Festival Gold Medals. 

Senthil has served on the Creative Board of Reliance JIO, the MMA Global Mobile Marketing Association, and Jury Chairs of the Cannes D&AD, One Show, New York Festivals and the Jury Chairman of National Awards like Kyoorius and Abby Awards at Goafest and was part of the Global Creative Council at JWT and Wunderman Thompson. 

Chandni Shah is the founder and COO, FCB Kinnect. As the co-founder and COO of FCB Kinnect, she continues to push the boundaries of new-age advertising with innovation, fearless leadership, and an unshakable vision for the future.

Chandni’s leadership and business acumen have earned her several prestigious accolades. She was named Campaign Asia-Pacific's Young Business Leader of the Year (2021) and consecutively ranked amongst IMPACT’s 50 Most Influential Women in Advertising & Marketing. She has also been recognised in Campaign South Asia’s 40 Under 40 list and honored with the SHE 2022 award by Agency Reporter, which celebrates both professional excellence and personal resilience.

Her strategic vision has played a crucial role in securing major global industry accolades for FCB Kinnect, including Cannes Lions, One Show, Spikes Asia, Grand Clio, and D&AD. Additionally, she served as Jury Chair for the Mobile category at the Abby Awards South Asia at Goafest, cementing her position as a key thought leader in the industry.

Anupama Ramaswamy is the joint MD and chief creative officer, Havas Worldwide. Anupama Ramaswamy has over 25 years in advertising. 

She has struck multiple Golds at Cannes, Clio, Adfest, LIA and has won metals at many other shows like the New York Festivals, Abby Awads, Spikes and One Show. She has been a judge at the prestigious Cannes, One Show, Spikes, AME awards, New York Festivals, Kyoorious and Abby Awards. She brought home a London International Gold for Times Of India and the Health Specialist of the Year at ABBY Awards at Goafest.

Ramaswamy has carved a niche in handling Indian brands, including Reckitt, Dabur, P&G, Fortis, Suzuki, UTI Mutual Fund, William Grant, amongst others. Previously a national creative director and managing partner at Dentsu Impact, Delhi, she has led teams on the account of Maruti Suzuki. She launched Ikea in India.

As Senior Creative Director at JWT Delhi, Anupama led the Delhi office to its first Cannes and Clio Gold in its 100-year history.

In the same year, the network picked up Agency of the Year at AdFest. The Fujifilm campaign that contributed to this pile of metals was ranked among the top 20 most awarded print campaigns in the world, according to the Gunn Report.

In addition, her work on Nokia and Samsung helped them become the No 1 trusted and youth brand respectively in the country.