ABBY Awards 2026: Meet the 3 Creative Leaders Judging India's Best Ads

Introduction

What does it take to win India's most coveted advertising honour in 2026? That answer just got a lot clearer.

The Advertising Club has officially revealed the jury chairs for three of the most competitive categories at the ABBY Awards 2026. These are not just names on a press release. Each appointed leader carries decades of creative philosophy, global award recognition, and a very specific point of view on what great advertising looks like in today's India.

For CMOs, agency heads, and brand managers already planning their entries, this announcement is essential reading. It tells you exactly who will be in the room — and what standard your work must meet to walk away with metal in May.

What Just Happened

The Advertising Club, one of India's most respected industry bodies, has formally appointed three senior creative professionals to lead jury deliberations at the ABBY Awards 2026. The awards are run in partnership with The One Club for Creativity and The One Show — a collaboration that brings genuine international weight to India's domestic creative awards circuit.

The three jury chairs and their assigned categories are:

Rajdeepak Das, Chief Creative Officer at Publicis Groupe South Asia and Chairman of Leo Burnett South Asia, takes charge of the AV Film — Television category.

Ashish Khazanchi, Managing Partner at Enormous, will lead the AV Film — Digital and OTT category.

Anupama Ramaswamy, Managing Director and Chief Creative Officer at Havas Creative India, will head the Direct category.

The event itself is scheduled across three days — May 20, 21, and 22, 2026 — at Taj Cidade de Goa Horizon, as part of the broader Goafest 2026 calendar.

What This Means for Your Brand

This jury chair lineup is sending a clear signal to every creative team in the country: craft and cultural impact will matter more than ever at ABBY 2026.

Rajdeepak Das built his reputation by treating television advertising as a vehicle for genuine social change. Under his leadership, Leo Burnett South Asia has won Creative Agency of the Year at the ABBYs three consecutive times. A jury chair who measures work by its ability to shift human behaviour will hold TV entries to a very different standard than one who simply rewards production quality. If your TVC exists only to move units, reconsider your entry strategy.

Ashish Khazanchi represents something equally important — the independent agency perspective. Having grown Enormous from a two-person startup into a nationally recognised creative shop, Khazanchi understands brand building from the ground up. His category, Digital and OTT, is where most Indian advertising budgets are flowing right now. Expect entries in this space to face sharp questions about originality and platform relevance.

Anupama Ramaswamy brings a genuinely global benchmark to the Direct category. Her recent work has competed and won at the highest international platforms, helping India climb four positions on the WARC Creative Rankings in a single year.

The forward-looking truth? This is arguably the strongest jury chair trio the ABBYs have fielded in recent memory. Brands that enter with safe, forgettable work will feel the difference.

Expert Take

The three jury chairs collectively represent something bigger than individual achievement — they embody the three creative forces reshaping Indian advertising today.

Das stands for purpose-led mass communication, where a brand's television presence is inseparable from its social responsibility. His campaigns have addressed deeply rooted cultural taboos and created measurable real-world change, earning Grand Prix recognition at Cannes Lions 2022.

Khazanchi stands for entrepreneurial creativity — the kind that builds brands from scratch without the safety net of a large network. Over his career, he has accumulated more than 300 national honours and 50 international accolades, including the ABBY Creative Agency of the Year title in 2025.

Ramaswamy stands for creative work that operates at the intersection of culture and commerce. Her 2025 campaign earned 42 metals across major global platforms including Cannes Lions, Clio, ADFEST, and Spikes Asia — a performance that single-handedly improved India's standing in global creative rankings.

Together, they represent TV, digital, and direct — which is essentially the full breadth of how Indian consumers encounter advertising today.

The brands.in Perspective

The Advertising Club has made a quietly bold choice with this jury chair selection. Rather than opting for familiar ceremonial names, it has picked three professionals who are each actively producing award-winning, culturally significant work right now. That distinction matters enormously. It means the bar at ABBY 2026 will not be set by legacy reputation alone — it will be set by current creative standards. For brands, this is a wake-up call. Indian advertising has a genuine global moment happening. Either your next campaign is part of that story, or it is wallpaper.

Key Takeaways for Marketers

• ABBY Awards 2026 jury chairs reflect India's shift toward purpose-driven, globally competitive creativity.
• AV Film TV entries will be evaluated against a high bar of social and cultural relevance.
• Digital and OTT work faces scrutiny from an independent agency perspective that values originality.
• The Direct category is chaired by one of India's most internationally decorated creative leaders.
• Goafest 2026 runs May 20 to 22 at Taj Cidade de Goa Horizon — entry planning should already be underway.

Frequently Asked Questions

Q: What are the ABBY Awards and why do they matter to Indian brands? The ABBYs are India's flagship advertising awards organised by The Advertising Club. Winning here signals creative and strategic excellence to clients, talent, and the broader industry. The 2026 edition carries added weight through its partnership with The One Club for Creativity.

Q: Where and when will ABBY Awards 2026 be held? The awards ceremony forms part of Goafest 2026, running from May 20 to 22 at Taj Cidade de Goa Horizon in Goa, India.

Q: How does knowing the jury chairs help brands and agencies prepare? Each jury chair brings a distinct creative philosophy that influences what scores well in deliberations. Understanding their body of work and values helps agencies align their entries to the standard that will actually be rewarded.

Closing

India's creative industry is entering Goafest 2026 with a lot to prove — and a jury that will hold it to the highest standard yet. So here is the question worth sitting with: Is the work your brand is producing today the kind that changes minds, shifts culture, and earns its place on a global stage?

Drop your thoughts in the comments below. And for daily brand intelligence that keeps you sharp, follow brands.in — because staying ahead of the curve is not optional anymore.