After The Grand Prix, The Next Goal Is A D&AD Yellow, Says Creative Whizkid Mahesh Ambaliya

It was the 28-year-old’s brilliant idea of combining chalk with soap for the ITC Savlon Healthy Hands Chalk Sticks campaign by Ogilvy that won India its first Grand Prix for Creative Effectiveness at Cannes this year

- Christina Moniz

Meet Mahesh Ambaliya, the young man whose photo was held up by members of Team Ogilvy India as they went up on the Cannes Lions stage to collect the Grand Prix for Creative Effectiveness for ITC’s Savlon Healthy Hands Chalk Sticks campaign this year. Last year, when the campaign won multiple awards at Cannes, Ogilvy big boss Piyush Pandey was quick to give credit where it was due by announcing that the much-acclaimed campaign was Ambaliya’s brainchild - rare in an industry where it is often hard to establish who really owns an idea. Ambaliya, who comes from Gujarat, was also a winner of IMPACT’s Top 30 Under 30 award earlier this year. He initially chose to pursue film-making before being discovered by Abhijit Avasthi, then National Creative Director at Ogilvy India. There was no looking back after that for Ambaliya.

Recently, however, he moved on from his role as Copy Supervisor with Ogilvy to take some time off for himself. Here, he tells us about his personal connect with the award-winning campaign, the big Cannes honour, his aspirations and more.

Q] Tell us the story of the Savlon Healthy Hands Chalk Sticks campaign idea. What inspired the campaign?