Healthcare advertising in India has always been a tricky territory. Too clinical and you lose people. Too creative and you risk undermining the science. Brandcare's been threading that needle for years, and now there's validation beyond client renewals and domestic awards.
The independent healthcare agency has been named India's Health Agency of 2025 by TopFICE, a global ranking platform that tracks performance across 72 international award shows. It's the only Indian specialized healthcare agency to make the cut, landing alongside names like Klick Health from Canada, Igloo Lab from Colombia, and Area 23 from the USA.
What makes this interesting isn't just the trophy. It's what the work represents—a different way of thinking about healthcare communication that doesn't treat patients as medical charts or reduce complex conditions to fear-mongering tactics.
Take the Edema Pranaam campaign. Instead of running generic awareness ads about pedal edema—a condition often dismissed as just aging but can signal serious heart risk—Brandcare turned a cultural practice into a screening moment. When younger generations bend down to touch elders' feet in the traditional pranaam gesture, they're positioned to spot swelling in the feet. It's elegant because it doesn't ask people to change behavior; it layers health awareness onto something they already do.
Or look at Drain Edema for Cipla. Medical conditions like edema are abstract until you can see them. Brandcare used a gumboot filled with water as a visual metaphor—part of the actual foot—to show fluid accumulation in the body. It cuts through the clutter of risk scores and medical diagrams on a doctor's desk and makes the invisible suddenly urgent and relatable.
Then there's work like Gram Health Locket, which pushes past advertising entirely. Working with Keshav Srushtee, Brandcare developed a wearable health device for tribal communities in Western India. Designed with local tribal art sensibilities, it's essentially a digitized health record that people can wear. The project has reached 31 tribal villages, touched 11,000 families, and even got recognition from the African National Rural Development Organization.
That last one matters because it shows Brandcare isn't just making ads. They're building actual health infrastructure in communities that need it, using design and technology to solve access problems that traditional healthcare systems haven't figured out.
Rashmi Thosar, who founded Brandcare and runs it as CEO and CCO, frames it clearly. "The TopFICE global rankings recognition for Brandcare as India's Health Agency of the Year is a testament to Indian creativity and effectiveness. As an independent agency from India, we are proud to stand amongst the best in the world. This award confirms our belief that healthcare communication needs special care, cultural sensitivity, and creative excellence. Our campaigns show that we can make communications that not only inform but also change health outcomes when science and sensitivity come together."
What's worth noting is how Brandcare's evolved. Started as a specialized healthcare creative shop, they've expanded into a full-service healthcare communications operation with offices in India and Singapore. Digital capabilities, analytics, even health tech investments—they're betting that healthcare communication requires understanding the entire ecosystem, not just making smart ads.
The scientific accuracy piece is non-negotiable in healthcare work. Get the medicine wrong and you're not just ineffective; you're potentially dangerous. But pure accuracy doesn't move people. Brandcare's work shows what happens when you don't compromise on either—the science stays rigorous while the creative finds culturally relevant entry points that actually resonate.
There's a broader question about whether this model scales or stays boutique. Healthcare is specialized; deep expertise matters. Can an independent agency maintain that depth while growing? Or does staying small and focused remain the advantage?
For now, Brandcare's proving that healthcare advertising doesn't have to be boring or condescending. That cultural sensitivity and medical rigor aren't opposing forces. That Indian agencies can compete globally in specialized categories without mimicking Western approaches.
Whether this sparks more investment in healthcare-focused creative shops, or whether Brandcare remains an outlier in a market dominated by generalist agencies with healthcare divisions, is still open. But the conversation about what good healthcare communication looks like has a new reference point—and it's coming from Mumbai, not Madison Avenue.