Global Brand Builders: Mondelez's Anil Viswanathan joins the Storyboard18 Awards For Creativity jury
Anil Viswanathan of Mondelez Europe joins to the Grand Jury of the Storyboard18 Awards for Creativity, adding a global brand-building perspective to the evaluation of culturally resonant work.
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As creativity becomes increasingly borderless, shaped by global platforms yet rooted in local culture, the standards by which creative work is evaluated are evolving. Reflecting this shift, Anil Viswanathan, currently Vice President, Marketing for Mondelez North and Western Europe, joins the Grand Jury of the Storyboard18 Awards for Creativity, a platform recognising excellence in modern advertising and brand storytelling.
The Storyboard18 Awards for Creativity have been designed to mirror the realities of contemporary communication, where brands must balance scale with sensitivity and innovation with effectiveness. The awards span categories including brand film and storytelling, integrated campaigns, digital and social innovation, purpose-driven creativity, design and visual craft, creative effectiveness and next-generation formats such as AI, gaming and creator collaborations. Together, they seek to recognise ideas that are not only creatively strong but culturally resonant and strategically sound.
Apply here: Enter The Storyboard18 Awards for Creativity
The jury brings together leaders who’ve shaped brands, culture and economic thinking in India. The panel includes Amitabh Kant, the force behind Incredible India and one of the country’s most respected reformers; Praveen Someshwar, CEO of Diageo India; Prasoon Joshi, Chairman of Omnicom Advertising India; strategists and commentators Suhel Seth and Santosh Desai; Nikhil Sharma, Managing Director of Perfetti Van Melle India; Anil Viswanathan of Mondelez Europe; Shantanu Deshpande, co-founder of Bombay Shaving Company; and Radhika Gupta, CEO of Edelweiss Mutual Fund.
Creativity in a Global-Local Marketplace
The timing of the awards reflects a broader transformation in advertising. Creative work today is expected to travel across markets and platforms, while still remaining grounded in local insight. Campaigns that succeed are those that understand cultural nuance, consumer behaviour and the commercial realities of large, competitive categories.
Entries for the Storyboard18 Awards for Creativity are assessed across criteria that include originality, storytelling depth, cultural relevance, platform fit, craft, innovation and, where applicable, measurable impact. The framework recognises that creativity today is inseparable from strategy, data and distribution.
Apply here: Enter The Storyboard18 Awards for Creativity
A Marketer Shaped by Scale and Sensitivity
Viswanathan brings to the jury a perspective shaped by years of working on some of the world’s most recognisable FMCG brands. In his current role, he oversees marketing for Mondelez across North and Western Europe, a diverse region with multiple mature markets, regulatory environments and consumer expectations. Prior to that, Viswanathan was the managing director for Mondelez Vietnam.
Earlier in his career, Viswanathan played a significant role in shaping brand strategy and marketing at Mondelez India, overseeing campaigns for iconic brands such as Cadbury Dairy Milk, 5 Star and Oreo. His work in India was marked by an emphasis on culturally rooted storytelling, long-term brand building and consistency across touchpoints—an approach that helped several Mondelez brands maintain leadership in highly competitive categories.
During his tenure at Mondelez India, Viswanathan was closely associated with several high-impact and award-winning campaigns for Cadbury, including the much-discussed Shah Rukh Khan–fronted initiatives that blended scale, emotion and cultural insight. The work stood out for its ability to refresh an iconic legacy brand while staying rooted in contemporary consumer behaviour, demonstrating how creativity, technology and star power could be deployed with strategic restraint. Those campaigns became case studies in how mass brands can remain culturally relevant without losing coherence, and helped reinforce Cadbury’s position as one of India’s most consistently creative FMCG marketers.
Apply here: Enter The Storyboard18 Awards for Creativity
That combination of local market experience and global responsibility gives Viswanathan a vantage point that is particularly relevant today, as Indian creativity increasingly benchmarks itself against international standards while retaining its distinct voice.
Judging Creativity at Scale
The inclusion of global marketing leaders on the grand jury reflects an understanding that creativity must often operate at scale, across regions and audiences. Work that resonates in one market must be adaptable without losing meaning, and campaigns must balance emotional appeal with commercial accountability.
As agencies, brands and creators prepare to submit work released in 2025, the Storyboard18 Awards for Creativity aim to identify ideas that succeed within this complexity. With Viswanathan on the jury, the platform adds a lens shaped by managing global brands, navigating cultural diversity and ensuring that creativity delivers sustained business value. In doing so, the awards position themselves as a benchmark for creativity that is ambitious, culturally fluent and capable of standing up to scrutiny in both local and global contexts.
