Ravi Deshpande to lead AdFest Direct jury

One of India’s most celebrated advertising creatives, Ravi Deshpande, will be Jury President for Direct Lotus at AdFest 2010. Deshpande is famous for building Contract into one of India’s most awarded agencies. He joined Contract in 1987, and within a few years he led the agency to win over 400 local awards for creative excellence along with awards at ADFEST, Cannes, One Show, D&AD, Clio and other global festivals.

“I’m very excited about being Jury President at ADFEST. They saynecessity is the mother of invention, and I think the Global FinancialCrisis has created a situation where being innovative is imperative. Weare either creative or we perish. At ADFEST 2010, I expect to see workthat is more responsible besides being highly creative. These aretrying times and advertising on the whole must be more accountable thanever before,” says Deshpande.

Deshpande has been recognized for his ‘Outstanding Contribution to theadvertising industry in India’ and honored as one of the six livinglegends of Indian advertising in the last 50 years by the AdvertisingClub in Madras.

In 2005, after helping to launch a new agency called Lemon,Deshpande was invited back to Contract as Chief Creative Officer to seta new direction for the agency. In 2008, he was promoted as Chairmanfor the Contract network in India. Under his leadership, Contract isemerging again as one of India’s most promising agencies with asteadily expanding roster of national and multi-national brands.

“We are honored that Ravi has accepted our invitation to beJury President for Direct Lotus at ADFEST next year. The DirectMarketing category is changing so rapidly with the emergence of newtechnologies and media channels, so it is great to have someone ofRavi’s caliber sharing their expertise with the rest of the Direct Jurypanel,” says Jimmy Lam, President of ADFEST.