Mumbai: Outreach, Nepal’s creative agency, has been awarded Gold at the ECI Awards 2025 in Guangzhou, China, for its work on “Mero Khukri”, created for Nepal’s iconic legacy brand Khukri Rum. The win marks a significant milestone for the Nepali creative industry, placing Nepal firmly on the global stage for marketing innovation.
Built on the belief that relevance matters, “Mero Khukri” reimagines how a legacy brand with deep cultural roots can connect with younger audiences without losing its soul. The campaign combines authentic storytelling, contemporary cultural expression, and original music by OMG Spark to create an emotional connection rooted in pride, identity, and belonging.
Varsha Perera, CMO, The Nepal Distilleries Pvt. Ltd., said, “Making a legacy brand like Khukri Rum relevant to a younger audience is a mammoth task. You’re constantly balancing how far you can modernise while staying true to the brand’s cultural soul and not losing the people who’ve loved it for years, because Khukri Rum has become a people’s brand and consumers feel a real sense of personal ownership towards it. With Mero Khukri, that balance was everything. The Outreach team truly understood this and took the brief very personally, because Khukri felt like a part of them. When they presented the Mero Khukri idea, we knew they had nailed it. The choice of OMG Spark, with his mix of traditional sounds and modern rap, felt spot on, and seeing how strongly the campaign was received across platforms has been incredibly satisfying. The ECI award was a powerful affirmation of just how strong the campaign idea and its execution truly were.”
Noor Shrestha, CEO, Outreach Nepal, highlighted the collaboration led by Shiv Prakash Sharma, Planning Director, and Creative Director Binaya Lamichhane, alongside the extended teams at Outreach and its partners. The ECI jury commended the work for its cultural relevance, strategic clarity, and the role of music as a unifying emotional device, noting how it translated local insight into storytelling that resonates with younger audiences.
As the ECI Awards 2025 Gold trophy arrives in Kathmandu, Outreach celebrates the achievement as a collective win for the Nepali advertising ecosystem and a proud moment for South Asian creativity.
