The Ad club Madras was formally founded on 7 April 1956. Though registered as ‘Club’, the Club has grown into an institution educating, entertaining and enlarging the thought process of those in the industry. It is perhaps the only Ad Club in India which has a variety of activities including sports and entertainment going beyond the usual meeting seminars, awards and conferences.
History
Inspired by the Kolkata Advertising Club, a group of twenty individuals from the advertising field met for tea on a pleasant Saturday evening, 18th February 1956 and there began the idea of forming The Advertising Club Madras.
Now with over 1000 members, the club has come a long way to provide social interaction between members, programmes designed to provide tomorrow's crop of professionals, recognition of professional achievement and setting new standards of excellence. The contribution of the Club is today recognised and saluted by several people and organisations in the country.
A group of business people meet regularly in Madras City to discuss the advertising business.
They formed the Advertising Club Madras
The AD Club conducts the first ever ‘Advertising Art Exhibition South India’ Awards Nite. It became a prestigious annual event of the Club, attracting entries from agencies from all over South India
To add a new dimension, the Ad Club introduced Sports in the events calendar for the first time. Contests involving cricket, table tennis and chess, and other popular games were conducted and became hugely popular among the club members
The AD Club launches the Post Graduate Diploma course in Advertising Management to meet the shortage of skilled manpower in the Industry
The AD Club changes the format of judging as well as the presentation of awards. In 2002 the awards were named SPARK
The Ad Club launches Deadline, a contest where participants create and present a campaign within 36 hours of getting the brief. There were unimaginable propositions, out of the world graphics and even legitimate surrogate advertising
The AD Club organises a mega International convention Advertising Future Shock echoing the changing role of Advertising agencies with the changing times. Similar conventions were held in 2001 and 2006.
The golden Jubilee year of the Ad Club. Also the very first time a woman President took over the reins of the Club. Six living legends of Ad Industry - Alyque Padamse, Christopher Rosario, Mohammed Khan, Piyush Pandey, Ravi Deshpande and Rajiv Menon were honoured at the Living Legends Nite