Born a proud Mumbai-ite, Raj Kamble is a graduate of the Sir JJ School of Applied Art. He started his career at Enterprise Nexus/Lowe, Mumbai, where he went on to win half a dozen Clio Awards and three D&AD Silver Pencils in his formative years. He then moved to Lowe Howard Spink, London, where he worked on brands such as Stella Artois, Unilever, Nestle and Saab. After 2 years in London, he took up a new role as Creative Director at Lowe New York. His winning streak continued as he bagged One Show Gold and a Gold Lion at Cannes for his work for Stella Artois, Gillette and Light of Life Foundation. In 2010, he was hired by BBDO New York. His work titled ‘World’s Biggest Shave’ was talked about in the Financial Times, CNBC and the New York Times. After more than a decade in the business, Kamble moved back to his hometown, as the Managing Partner for BBH India where he handled accounts like Vaseline, Diageo, World Gold Council and Google Chrome, etc. He is now Founder and Chief Creative Officer at Famous Innovations. In 5 years since its inception, Famous has created some iconic innovations for several Indian and Global brands, is a three-time winner of South Asia Independent Agency of the Year by Campaign India and was listed among the World’s Leading Independent Agencies in 2016, 2017 and 2018. Raj has cumulatively won more than 150 global awards including at Cannes Lions, One Show, D&AD, the Clio Award, the Andy Awards, ADFEST and Art Directors Club. He has been jury at Cannes, One Show, Adfest, etc. He has given lectures at institutes such as the Kellogg Institute of Management and Columbia University. He also runs Miami Ad School in India. Most recently, he has been elected to the Board of Governors at IIM-Kozhikode.
Mithila Saraf joined Famous Innovations in 2012 before it had any employees, clients (or even laptops!) with the hope to make a real difference in the world of communications. She studied Economics and Communications at New York University, and spent her early career at top media houses like NBC New York, CNN-IBN and Education Times. At Famous, she has steered growth for brands like Raymond, Mahindra, Titan, Van Heusen, Zivame, Sobha, Swiggy, Wildcraft, etc. as well as for Famous as a brand itself. Mithila represented India globally at Cannes Young Lions 2016 and 2017, winning against over 250 participants. She was also nominated as the South Asia Young Achiever of 2016 and 2018 by Campaign South Asia. An IMPACT 30-under-30 winner, she was also featured in AdAge Rising Stars under 30. An active voice in the industry, she has spoken for gender equality and giving youth more opportunities in advertising on several forums. She has been on the jury for Effies India twice and is regularly published in advertising media like Campaign, IMPACT, Adage, etc.
Sumit is a chameleon. From classic to kitsch, his work is hard to classify. And that’s what makes him a one-of-a-kind art-director in the world of advertising. Born and raised on the internet he sees design and art as a way to capture shrinking attention spans. Over the course of 9 years his work has straddled industries like finance, confectionary, alcohol, television and real estate. An ever-curious creator he is always looking for his next challenge.
Kamal has over 17 years of experience in the area of Accounts. This includes extensive international experience in formulating accounting and administrative procedures in the Advertising Industry. Before Famous, he worked as Commercial Manager at McCann Erickson India from 2007 to 2011. He has also been Commercial Head at Mudra Communications and Commercial Manager at Commonwealth (joint venture with Goodby Silverstein and Mccann Worldwide). As an independent, Famous is an exciting and refreshing environment, and Kamal is glad to be working with a young, enthusiastic team.
Sandeep has over 30 + years of experience in the areas of Finance, Legal, Accounts and Commercial which includes approx. 24 years’ experience in Advertising Industry. Before Famous, he worked as Senior Manager Finance at Culture Machine Media (a Rainshine Group company) and as Director Finance at Helios Media. He has also worked with advertising companies viz. R K Swamy BBDO Pvt Ltd, DDB Mudra Group, Rediffussion DY & R and Cellcast Interactive India Pvt Ltd (a UK joint venture in India) as Head Commercial. Also having his major stint with Group M Media India Pvt Ltd and Enterprise Nexus Communications Pvt Ltd.
From large units to creative hot-shops, Melvin Jacob has learned to go media agnostic in close to two decades in advertising. Apart from working at Ogilvy and Lowe in two countries, he’s co-founded a digital content start-up and done memorable stints at RMG David and Propaganda India. Along the way, he’s worked in Malaysia, Dubai, Chennai and Bangalore and has handled brands like IKEA, Ford, Max Life Insurance, Singapore Tourism, Royal Enfield, MRF, Nivea, Nissan, QuickBooks, Britannia, Lenovo and IBM. He’s won India’s first ever Spikes Grand Prix for music, helped score an Independent Agency of the Year title and received appreciation from Ogilvy and Lowe Creative Councils. When he isn’t crafting the creative product, he jams with filmmakers, leads a rock band, teaches advertising in colleges and practices martial arts.
Shayon has been in advertising for more than 20 years. His last assignment was with Lowe Lintas, Bengaluru. As the Creative Head of South, his primary responsibility was to drive the creative output for big brands like Tanishq, Britannia and Fastrack. In his earlier role, he was heading Creative at Lowe Lintas, Mumbai for the homecare category of Unilever. The brands he was responsible for were Surf Excel, Wheel and Vim.
This was his second stint at Lowe Lintas. In 2015, he left the organisation as their Delhi Creative Head and delved into the world of film-making. He has directed more than 40 films and ran his own production house. In his first stint at Lowe Lintas, he had the opportunity to work on brands like Google, OLX, Maruti, Hindustan Times, Havells and Micromax. He has won numerous awards for the brands he worked on, including the Effies. The most coveted, a Cannes Lions for Hindustan Times.
His advertising career started with McCann. Though it was never a thought-through career move. It was pure serendipity. After graduating from JNU, he joined the Indian Institute of Mass Communication as a student of journalism. Shayon is passionate about films, long drives, mountains, Tintin and Japanese cuisine. Not in any particular order though.
Mansi is a perfect mix of strategic and business mind, born to be in the advertising field. She started her career with L&K Saatchi & Saatchi before moving onto FCB and finally settling at Famous where she has been working for almost six years now. Started as an Account Management person, Mansi gradually moved to Strategic planning to lead the strategy for some of the biggest brands in the organisation.
Some of the brands she partnered in this journey are Burger King, Platinum Guild International, Unilever, Pepperfry, Faces Canada, Haier, Livpure, D'Decor, Tata Salt, Zoiro, Thomascook etc. Recently she was featured in Impact's Top 30 under 30 list which recognises young achievers from the Advertising and Media industry. She has also been a part of the Effie jury last year, judging some of the most effective work from the industry alongside the industry stalwarts.
In a career spanning 15 years across digital and integrated creative setups, Akhilesh has been a growth partner for some of India’s biggest brands like Garnier, L’Oréal, Tata CliQ, SABMiller, Hindustan Unilever, Saffola, Star Sports, Tata Motors, and Casio amongst many others. He has previously flourished at FoxyMoron, DDB Mudra, Havas, L&K Saatchi & Saatchi and MullenLowe Lintas.
Akhilesh is an advertising buff and a keen data analyst with a dormant affinity for the law. He likes to create work that keeps the brand's purpose at the centre of every campaign he releases from his desk, and works to build happy teams wherever he goes.
When not working with his teams to deliver great work, he spends a bulk of his time consuming non-fictional content, working on his rusty coding skills, and generally finding humour in the most random places.