Duo from BBDO India & DDB Mudra Group are the winners of YOC 2025 contest

The energy was electric at the 19th edition of the Out-of-Home Advertising Convention (OAC) in Mumbai, as the winners of the much-awaited Young Outdoorian Creative Contest (YOC) were officially announced. Taking home the Winner’s title were Sankalp Grover from DDB Mudra Group and Astha Vaibhavi from BBDO India, for their project “10 Minutes Ago”. The duo won awarded an all-expenses-paid trip to ADFEST 2026 in Pattaya, Thailand, including airfare, a three-night stay, and full access to the festival. 

The Runner-Up title was bagged by Krishna Ganatra and Mohammed Nadir Ahmed from 22feet Tribal Worldwide (DDB Group) for their project “#MenVsInstamart”, which made them win a cash prize of Rs 50,000. 

Open exclusively to young minds (below the age of 30), YOC was designed as a high-energy contest to bring a spotlight on young talent. Participants, coming in from across the country, were grouped into two-member teams with pairings like Art-Copy, Art-Strategy, and Copy-Strategy. The event was kicked off with an online briefing session on July 15 at 11:30 AM.  

The brief was given by Abhishek Shetty, Marketing Head of Swiggy Instamart. All the participants were asked to create a campaign that encouraged women to rely on Swiggy Instamart for all their home needs. The brief challenged teams to bring alive the brand’s core promise: “From small to big, get anything delivered in 10 minutes on Swiggy Instamart.” 

With just 48 hours on the clock, the creative race was intense. The contest received an enthusiastic response, with 25 entries submitted by the deadline of July 17 at 11:30 AM. The jury included some of the biggest creative names in the industry–  

• Santosh Padhi (Paddy) – Founder & Chief Creative Officer, Into Creative 

• Kapil Batra – President – Creative, Lowe Lintas 

• Vikram Gaikwad – Co-Founder & Chief Creative Officer, Underdog 

• Raj Kamble – Founder & Chief Creative Officer, Famous Innovations 

• Manish Bhatt – Founder & Director, Scarecrow M&C Saatchi 

• Pravin Sutar – Creative Head India, Leo Burnett Orchard 

• Russell Barrett – Chief Creative Experience Officer, TBWA India 

• Nilay Moonje – Executive Creative Director, Sideways Consulting  

 The winners were felicitated on the evening of July 19 at the OOH Advertising Awards ceremony at OAC Mumbai.