The May issue of Manifest is out now.

The lead story of the magazine investigates how agencies are approaching awards and events such as the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity, following mass layoffs with inputs from Anupama Ramaswamy (Havas Creative India), Mithila Saraf (Famous Innovations), Narayan Devanathan (dentsu), Ramauj Shastry (Infectious Advertising), Roopak Saluja (Bang Bang), and Senthil Kumar (creative consultant).

We have a chat with Raja Rajamannar, senior fellow, Mastercard, on his 13-year stint with the company, as well as learnings from his career.

Tanya Dubash, executive director an chief brand officer, Godrej Industries, discusses the recent rebrand, and touches upon topics such as the benefits of in-housing.

There's in-depth coverage of Manifest Play, which was powered by Havas Play, and had SI (formerly Sportz Interactive) as a 'fan engagement partner' and Jack Daniel's as a 'drink's break partner'. We also reveal findings from a report released by Havas Play and KPMG at the event.

Shekhar Bhattacharjee, founder, Edstead, appears in the 'Media' section, talking about the role of branded content, and why he launched the media cmopany.

Dentsu Creative India's Gurbaksh Singh, chats about how the agency is using technology for its creative work, and sheds light on two recent pieces of work - one that has helped the agency win accolades in the last award cycle, and the other that is in the running for a Lion this year.

Tarunjeet Ratan (Nucleus PR) and Vishaal Shah (Moe's Art) debate about whether PR is facing a decline or is simply seeing a reinvention.

There's a special focus on Zen Diamond is looking to build a luxury identity in the country through a partnership with a global icon like Jennifer Lopez.

We also go behind-the-scenes of the recent Nanhi Kali campaign, that was directed by Afshan Hussain Shaikh (Not Bad Films) and conceptualised by Ogilvy.

Aalap Desai continues with his 'Unpopular Opinion' column, and Samir Dixit, returns with one about market leaders need to stop 'denial'. We also have columns from Adfactors' Samir Kapur, and Brandself's Roma Singhal.

We also chat with the team at ^ a t o m, to understand the agency's six-year journey, on the back of it winning the Limca mandate. 

Our focus on healthcare and pharma continues with Medulla Communications' Andrew Schirmer and Praful Akali in conversation with BrainTap's Ernie Martin.

Dixcy Scott's latest campaign used 'AI' into a summer comfort story, and we chat with the team at Havas as well as the parent company (Modenik Lifestyle) that helped create the story.

Sana Ahmad shares her take in the 'Unfiltered' series with She Directs Ads.

Ruchi Sharma continues with her 'Keeping It Human' series, writing about how the 'creative industry is grieving'.

Geet Nazir, managing director, Landor India, appears in our 'Rapid Fire' section.

Get your copy here.

For a one-year subscription, use the below link. 

We also have a six-month subscription. Get it here. 

For any subscription-related queries email aaryan@manifest-media.in.