Advertising veteran Piyush Pandey has been posthumously conferred with the Padma Bhushan, India’s third-highest civilian honour, for his transformative contribution to commercial advertising, public communication, and nation-building campaigns.
President Droupadi Murmu presented the prestigious award, which was received by Pandey’s wife, Nita Joshi.
The government citation described Pandey as an architectural figure in modern Indian media, whose influence extended far beyond creative storytelling into strategic leadership, industry-building, and shaping a distinct communication narrative deeply rooted in India’s cultural identity.
Pandey, who passed away in October 2025 at the age of 70, was widely regarded as the “voice of Indian advertising”. He created some of the country's most memorable campaigns, such as Cadbury’s “Kuch Khaas Hai”, Asian Paints’ “Har Ghar Kuch Kehta Hai”, and the national integration anthem Mile Sur Mera Tumhara.
Over a career spanning more than four decades, he helped shape the evolution of Indian advertising by encouraging a shift away from westernised templates. He championed work rooted in local insights that seamlessly integrated into Indian popular culture. That instinct for decoding the pulse of everyday India was evident in his final script for Fevicol which recently aired.
Pandey’s highly decorated career reflected his keen wit and immense talent. He was awarded the Padma Shri award in 2016 (India’s fourth-highest civilian honour), the 2024 LIA Legend Award, the CLIO Lifetime Achievement Award in 2012 and picked up countless metals for Ogilvy at the Cannes Lions and the Abbys.
In 2018, Pandey and his brother, filmmaker Prasoon Pandey, became the first Asians to receive the prestigious Lion of St Mark at the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity.
Among the Padma Bhushan awardees this year are Harmanpreet Kaur, Praveen Kumar Bhullar, Uday Kotak, and veteran actor Dharmendra Singh Deol, who has been conferred the honour posthumously. With his rugged charm and pan-India appeal, the latter was, at one point in time, one of advertising’s most bankable stars, speaking to the India that lay beyond the metros. He passed away in November 2025, at the age of 89.
