The m25 Global Creative Series: Vidya Manmohan on Collaboration, Culture and Purpose
The m25 Global Creative Series spotlights the people behind the work – their instincts and cultural understanding. In this episode the focus turns to Dubai-based Vidya Manmohan, Founder and Chief Creative Officer of V4GOOD.
With more than 28 years of global agency experience, Manmohan has become one of the most awarded female Chief Creative Officers in the Middle East.
Known for building her own version of a network agency – one that collaborates with and champions talented women worldwide – Manmohan embodies creativity balanced with humility. Her journey is anything but conventional: from leaving medical school to pursue advertising, to switching mid-career from art direction to copywriting, she has consistently redefined what it means to lead with vision.
Operating out of Dubai and New York, her work reflects regional pop culture while earning international recognition. Proudly “Made in the UAE,” she continues to inspire communities and shape the industry, while serving on prestigious juries including Cannes Lions, D&AD, One Show, Clio and Adfest.
Brands are shifting budgets toward activations and experiences. How are you rethinking creativity when campaigns must exist both online and in the real world?
Well, that’s been the trend for a while now. Where even 360 campaigns kick-off with an activation on ground and then the case video spreads the word online.
Our recent campaign for the LEGO brand under the global campaign umbrella of ‘Never Stop Playing’ was one such project. We took over key areas in Dubai where we could target adults and remind them to ‘Never Stop Playing’. Gigantic LEGO see-saws, swings and sandcastles over-shadowed business districts and public spaces inviting adults to play. The content then took over social media and other channels via PR.
How do you see your market shaping global creative standards, and where do you think outsiders still underestimate its sophistication?
MiddleEast has come a long way in redefining global creative standards. UAE and Saudi Arabia are in the Top 10 Creative Annual Rankings globally. The MENA region has had a great run at the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity 2025, with a total of 32 wins awarded across agencies and markets – up from 22 in 2024. Most of the award-winning work in 2025 came from Impact BBDO, FP7 McCann, VML Dubai and Riyadh; and BigTime Creative Shop in Riyadh.
Recent trends highlight the tension between algorithmic efficiency and human desire for connection. How do you keep campaigns rooted in human truths while navigating AI-driven targeting and personalization?
The goal is not to choose between efficiency and human insight. The idea is to make AI serve human truth, not replace it. And we’ve been seeing great examples of campaigns rooted in human truth, driven by AI targeting turning into celebrated work globally. For me, #notjustacadburyad from India was the first of its kind to prove its worth.
Nearly half of marketers now use AI to scale creative across media and measurement, What role does AI play in your process today, and where do you draw the line between machine efficiency and human imagination?
It’s becoming hard to draw the line on where AI ends and where human imagination takes over as AI has pretty much taken over a lot. Having said that, we still have many clients who have non-AI policies in place and hence we have to respect that. We had an instance where we were on a virtual call with one of those clients and no one had realized that our Otter was silently there on the call. After the meeting our client received an AI summary of the call. And do I need to say more?
Do you really believe audiences today truly have shorter attention spans, or are they simply facing too many distractions?
I would say it’s a scary combination of both: shorter attention spans and having too many distractions. So yes, I would agree that getting one format of content across a wide audience would be challenging, unless we adapt the content. This reminds me of a long format film we created for the Ministry of Health to celebrate World Health Day. The film was meant to be shared only on social media channels. But on that day, we got a rare opportunity to project a cutdown of the same film on Burj Khalifa (the tallest building in the world) and we seized it. The film was also picked up and shared by the ruler of Dubai and hit 2M views overnight. So it is absolutely vital that we curate the content and touchpoints with the audience in mind.
As brands chase global reach, local cultural codes are becoming more valuable. What’s a campaign where leaning into tradition or local nuance created unexpected global resonance?
Last year we created a campaign for a Middle Eastern Media office that collaborated with one of the European film festivals. The creative concept was to marry a local symbol of pride with a European one. The resulting image was stunning and the film was pure magic. However, only the visual made it to the International public and press; the film was aired just once at the private gala (never to be made public). No matter how well we plan ahead, there are times when things like this happen. It’s the pop culture and local insights that actually make our work stand out from the rest of the world.
With new pathways into advertising (AI tools, creator economies), how do you mentor young talent differently today compared to five years ago?
I’ve often felt that we have a barter system with the new generation in the field. They learn from us and we learn from them and we take turns at leadership. Isn’t that a healthy setup?
Looking toward 2030, what bold prediction would you make about how advertising will look and what legacy do you hope your campaigns leave for both brands and culture?
2030 is only four years away. So I strongly believe that ‘purpose-led’ brands and advertising will continue to grow and be loved. Emotions and feelings will be at the heart of every good work and ideas will always rule.