Crayons started in Delhi in 1986, when the industry said that was the wrong city and independence was the wrong model.

Four decades later, it is one of the largest fully independent advertising agencies in the country.

The Crayons Network today marked forty years in business – forty years since Kunal Lalani founded the agency in July 1986 from a basement office in New Delhi, at a time when the Indian advertising industry was concentrated almost entirely in Bombay, and when the conventional wisdom held that a truly independent, homegrown agency could not compete with the multinational networks. Crayons has spent four decades proving that wrong.

The First Bet

The first real test came early, with Baba Zafrani Zarda. The brand was a chewing tobacco product – a category that Doordarshan, then India’s only television broadcaster, flatly refused to carry. Crayons took the campaign to cinema halls and VHS instead. The film was shot at a casino in Nepal and featured Bollywood star Vinod Khanna. It achieved near-total recall across every format it ran in. The campaign worked, spectacularly. And Crayons had learned its first lesson early, that the right idea finds its audience.

Building the Network — City by City

Expansion diverged from advertising logic, Crayons started by going to markets where agencies didn’t typically go to first. Starting with Chandigarh in 1996. Jaipur, Mumbai, Lucknow, Chennai and Kolkata followed shortly after. In 2006, Crayons crossed another border altogether by opening in Dubai to serve the GCC region.

Growth brought different kinds of work.

Tourism became one of the agency’s defining strengths. From Kerala Tourism to the Incredible India’s first global digital campaign, Crayons has worked with over a dozen state tourism boards.

Integration followed. In 2011, Crayons expanded beyond the traditional agency model with specialist media, digital, OOH and events businesses. Melon Media, Ultraviolet Digital, Amber OOH, and Jade Events gave clients all the capability under a single independent roof.

More recently came some of the country’s biggest brands. From Air India’s historic return to the Tata Group to the Tata Group’s social media mandate itself.

Today, Crayons counts Air India, Tata, ITC, Kajaria, Fortis healthcare, APL Apollo and The Leela Hotels among the brands that have shaped its journey, alongside partnerships with public institutions, financial services, healthcare leaders and more than ten state governments.

Going Public, Staying Independent

In May 2023, Crayons listed on the NSE SME – a step that gave the agency access to capital markets without giving up the independence that built it. The IPO was oversubscribed 147 times.

The 40th Anniversary

The milestone was marked with a day-long leadership summit in Delhi. With branch heads and department leads from across the network, a full day focused on the years ahead. The agenda centred on Crayons’ continued investment in technology, AI, and integrated communications capabilities that extend what an independent agency can deliver.

The summit was followed by a celebration that, by all accounts, reflected the agency’s character: large, earned, and entirely its own.

May 14, 2026; Mumbai, India: Setting the stage for one of the most promising editions of South Asia’s premier advertising, media and marketing festival, Goafest 2026 today presents a stellar line-up of speakers, industry visionaries and entertainment personalities who will collectively champion discussions and conversations around the 19^th edition’s theme ‘Reset for Growth’.

The three-day festival will reflect the theme through a series of sessions that will tackle key industry shifts like the impact and influence of artificial intelligence, dilemmas around data ownership, evolving media consumption, the emergence of new media platforms, the greater need for measurement, and the role of creativity in powering business growth.  With 60 speakers across 20 sessions, Goafest 2026 ensures a thorough representation of key voices from across the advertising, media, marketing, technology, and business ecosystem.

Some of the most significant leaders expected to take the Goafest 2026 stage are Prasar Bharati’s Chairperson, Padma Shri Prasoon Joshi (Omnicom Advertising India),  NITI Aayog’s Former Vice Chairman, Dr. Rajiv Kumar, Santosh Desai (Think9 Consumer Technologies), Advertising veteran Eugene Cheong (Euge Publishing), and Bollywood legend Rakesh Bedi.

Besides advertising and media industry leaders, this year Goafest will have a wider representation from the client ecosystem and brand custodians including Nikhil Sharma (Perfetti Van Melle, India), Aman Gupta (boAt), Rohit Kapoor (Swiggy), Chandan Mendiratta (Zepto), Veetika Deoras (IHCL), Tuhina Pandey (IBM), Tarun Bhagat (PepsiCo) Riya Joseph (Britannia Industries), Harsh Deep Chhabra (Godrej Consumer Products), Darshana Shah (Aditya Birla Capital), Prasun Kumar (MagicBricks), Punit Dharamsi (Association of Mutual Funds in India) Rajiv Dubey  (Dabur India), Shubhranshu Singh (Marketing Leader & Ex CMO), Arpan Biswas (Ajio), Ajay Kakar (Adani) and Jahid Ahmed (HDFC Bank)  among many more.

Leading the technology-led conversations are Satya Raghavan (Google India), Haran Ramachandran (Spotify), Neha Markanda (ShareChat). Ensuring entertainment is not amiss, Prince of Bhangra, Sukhbir Singh and Singer Neeti Mohan will also take the prestigious Goafest stage.

Bringing diverse themes into focus, Goafest will also witness sports personalities like the Indian Women’s Cricket Team, Harmanpreet Kaur, Entrepreneur and Sports Leader, Preeti Jhangiani; Parvinn Dabass (Pro Panja League), Former Indian National Football Team captain and goalkeeper Aditi Chauhan, Indian Kabaddi Player Rahul Chaudhari, Sameer Pathak, (Pickleball World Rankings) and Actor, Anchor, Author & Fitness Enthusiast, Mandira Bedi.

Mohit Joshi, Co-Chair of the Goafest 2026 Organising Committee and CEO, Havas Media Network India said, “We are witnessing a shift in consumer behaviour, new technology adoption and a lot more in India and world over. As the industry evolves, growth can only come from embracing fresh perspectives, cross-industry collaboration, and conversations that may seem tough in boardrooms. The breadth of perspectives through our speakers across all stages will surely mirror our industry’s dynamics while looking for opportunities that unlock growth.”

“The agenda this year reflects the urgent realities of our industry. ‘Reset for Growth’ isn’t just a theme; it is a call to action – one that has sparked stronger client participation than ever before. Over the three days, we will hear from voices across the entire ecosystem – from AI and data to storytelling and brand-building. GoaFest 2026 will not just be a platform for celebration, but also for meaningful dialogue, collaboration and future-shaping ideas.” added Rohit Ohri, Founder, Ohriginal & Member, GoaFest Advisory Committee.

Scheduled to take place on May 20, 21 and 22, 2026 at Taj Cidade de Goa Horizon, Goafest 2026 festival will centre conversations around reinvention, with a strong focus on how brands, agencies and platforms must reimagine, refine, and rebuild in an increasingly complex technology-driven ecosystem.

View the complete agenda on https://www.goafest.com/agenda

Register for via https://goafestreg.tecogis.com/MasterClassApp/masterclass

For more details on delegate passes, sponsor line-up and complete speaker list, visit www.goafest.com