30
Personal Contribution
What did you actually do? We want the person behind the work, not a copied campaign case study.
Class of 2026
Before the title.
Before the spotlight.
Ad Tribe's annual editorial recognition of 25 young professionals already shaping the work, culture and future of India's agency industry.
No entry fee. No public voting. No jury.Scroll to discover
CREATIVE ✦ STRATEGY ✦ DESIGN ✦ SOCIAL ✦ MEDIA ✦ PERFORMANCE ✦ PRODUCTION ✦ TECHNOLOGY ✦ CLIENT PARTNERSHIP ✦ CREATIVE ✦ STRATEGY ✦ DESIGN ✦ SOCIAL ✦ MEDIA ✦ PERFORMANCE ✦ PRODUCTION ✦ TECHNOLOGY ✦ CLIENT PARTNERSHIP ✦
01 / Why The Next 25 exists
You know the campaign.
Do you know who worked on it?
Recognition in advertising often arrives after the title, the awards and the attention. We are looking earlier. For the young people finding the insight, shaping the strategy, writing the line, fixing the brief and making the work better.
01
Not the loudest person in the room.
02
Not the biggest title on the deck.
03
Not the person with the most followers.
04
The person making the work better.
02 / Who we're looking for
25 people.
One class.
The final 25 are selected across the agency ecosystem. There are no category winners and no fixed quota by discipline. The work determines the class.
01
Creative
Copy / Art / Ideas02
Design & Craft
Brand / Visual / Motion03
Strategy & Planning
Brand / Culture / Consumer04
Client Partnership
Accounts / Business05
Social & Content
Community / Culture06
Media & Performance
Planning / Buying / Growth07
Production
Film / Edit / Motion08
Data, Tech & Innovation
Adtech / Automation09
People & Agency Culture
Talent / Operations03 / What matters
No hype.
Show us the work.
25
Quality of Work
Strong thinking, craft and execution.
20
Impact
Creative, audience, client, team or business impact.
15
Initiative
What did you start, challenge or improve without being asked?
10
Future Potential
Are you someone the industry should pay attention to now?
0
Popularity Points
Followers, public voting, titles and agency size carry no weight.
04 / Editorial selection
No jury.
Pure editorial selection.
The Ad Tribe editorial team reviews eligible nominations, studies the work, verifies contribution where required and selects the final Class of 2026.
01↗
Eligibility review
Age, agency experience, location and a complete application are checked before anything else is read.
02↗
Editorial work review
Every qualified nomination is scored by the Ad Tribe editorial team against the five criteria above.
03↗
Internal longlist
The strongest nominations, roughly 50, move forward for verification. This list is never published.
04↗
Contribution verification
We contact the listed professional reference to confirm the nominee's stated contribution to the work.
05↗
Final editorial selection
Scores, verification and representation across roles, cities and agencies are weighed to pick the final 25.
Recognition shouldn't depend on an entry budget.
₹0
There is no entry fee.
The Next 25 is an Ad Tribe editorial discovery property. Commercial partners have no role in the selection.
- No public voting
- No follower-count advantage
- No paid shortlist
- No category winner politics
Nominations opening soon
Get in early.
Nominations aren't open yet. Leave your details and we'll email you the moment the form goes live, so you're not scrambling on day one.
The Next 25 · Class of 2026
Know someone
we should know?
Self-nominate. Nominate a colleague. Nominate someone from your team. Help Ad Tribe discover the next names in Indian advertising.
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