Miles SOBA’s  Guthli Ad Fest  celebrating Ogilvy rocks Bangalore’s MCC with stupendous turnout

Bangalore | September 24, 2025 — India’s first advertising festival dedicated exclusively to students is back. On September 20, 2025, Guthli Ad Fest will unfurl its second edition at Mount Carmel College, Bangalore, gathering over 2,000 students from more than 100 universities nationwide. The festival is curated by Miles SOBA (Miles School of Branding and Advertising) and conceived as a stage where young creative minds step out of classrooms and into the heart of the industry.

This year’s theme — “Celebrating Ogilvy” — places students in direct dialogue with legends of advertising. Three speakers and two jury members from Ogilvy are confirmed, offering both mentorship and critique. But what truly sets Guthli apart is its soul: students are not spectators here, they are protagonists — pitching, performing, experimenting across formats that stretch from radio jingles to AI-driven narratives.

The festival was envisioned by Dr. Prateesh R. Nair, Founder & CEO of Miles SOBA and Agency M, as a way to narrow the gap between academic theory and the velocity of the advertising world. “Students today are not waiting for permission to create,” Dr. Nair says. “Guthli is not a stage for watching. It is a laboratory of risks, of failures, of voice. A space where learning happens by doing.”

The inaugural edition, held at St. Xavier’s College, Mumbai last year, paid homage to icons Piyush Pandey and KV ‘Pops’ Sridhar. It featured Cyrus Broacha, Josy Paul, Prasoon Pandey, and others, drawing 2,000+ participants and rewriting the contours of what a student festival could be.

The 2025 edition in Bangalore brings an expanded architecture: real-time campaign labs, brand-building masterclasses, explorations in voice acting, storytelling for digital media, and public service communication. The energy in Bangalore will travel to Mumbai this December, where Guthli will host its Annual Awards Ceremony, recognising excellence in student campaigns across categories.

At its core, Guthli is also a demonstration of Miles SOBA’s Ed-Work Pedagogy, an educational model that braids theory with practice. “Education must move at the pace of culture,” Dr. Prateesh R Nair Nair affirms. “Guthli is our commitment to ensuring the next generation isn’t just educated — they’re industry-ready.”

With the weight of brand partners, media houses, and leading professionals, Guthli Ad Fest 2025 seeks to be more than an event. It aspires to be a cultural turning point — a place where the future of Indian advertising is not just imagined, but made.