Named after a female industry icon every year, in 2023 Indian Creative Women introduced a Cannes Lions scholarship dedicated to Usha Bhandarkar.
Usha was a leading creative in the 70s who created game-changing work and introduced strong female protagonists in advertising, like the evergreen Lalitaji.
This year’s scholarship is dedicated to Nargis Wadia. A creative legend of the 60s, she was the first woman to launch a full service creative agency in India. Under her leadership, InterPublicity won over 70 awards and launched the careers of several advertising stalwarts. In 1976, she became the first woman and youngest professional to be elected as the President of AAAI.
Indian Creative Woman (ICW), in partnership with Kyoorius, has announced the winner of the Nargis Wadia Award 2024, co-sponsored by Colgate and Snapchat.
Tanima Kohli, Group Head (Copy), Enormous, has won a fully sponsored trip to this year’s Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity. She was chosen amongst hundreds of creative women across the country who participated in a competition, the brief was to create an awareness campaign to get vaccinated against cervical cancer.
The jury included leading female creatives, Anusheela Saha, NCD FCB, Tista Sen, Creative Brand Consultant, Shormistha Mukherjee, Co-founder and Director – Flying Cursor, Estella Xian, Associate Design Director, Ogilvy Chicago, Prerna Mehra, Head of Art & Design, Mullen Lowe Dubai.
Nargis Wadia said, “I want every Indian creative woman to believe in her power and step into it because the world needs it now more than ever before.”
Talking about her win, Tanima said, “It’s an honour to win the Nargis Wadia Award. Women like her paved the way in the Mad Men era, making our journeys easier today. I hope to carry her legacy forward by creating impactful work that defines our industry as a force for good.”
Tanima is joined by last year’s winner, Leena Gupta (Creative & Founding Member, Talented) at Cannes this year.
Gunjit Jain, EVP Marketing, Colgate-Palmolive said, “In a world of consumer goods where most of the purchase decisions are made by women, it is imperative that we groom more women content creators who can empathize with our consumers. We’re proud to sponsor this award and partner with Indian Creative Women in creating a strong pipeline of women creative leaders.””
Sakshi Choudhary, Founder Indian Creative Women, said, “ICW is committed to making the Indian ad & design industry more diverse through actionable solutions. This award not only gives a young creative woman to experience a life-altering trip at Cannes but also gives visibility to women creative legends who didn’t get their due in time. It’s a statement that we young women are determined about changing this industry but only because we stand on the shoulders of those who came before us. ”