Ad Tribe — daily news on India’s advertising industry

FeatureBrand BuildersAll →

Abhigale Barretto Moves To Alkem From The Agency Side

Shakthi Nagappan, appointed chairman and managing director of PreferCo

PreferCo Appoints Shakthi Nagappan Chairman And MD

Guntas Randhawa, appointed regional marketing director for health in South Asia at Reckitt

Guntas Randhawa Joins Reckitt After 17 Years At Unilever

Dhruv Vohra, appointed managing director of Meta’s Global Business Group for Southeast Asia

Meta Puts Dhruv Vohra In Charge Of Southeast Asia

Virginia Sharma, appointed chief marketing officer of Missionforce at Salesforce

Virginia Sharma Becomes CMO Of Salesforce Missionforce

Ynon Kreiz, named co-chief executive of the combined Paramount Skydance and Warner Bros Discovery company

Ynon Kreiz Named Co-CEO Of The Paramount Warner Bros Group

FeatureWork LifeAll →

Work Life

Is AI Removing The Apprenticeship Layer Of Creative Work?

The tasks nobody wanted to do were the ones that taught you the job.

Why Good People Leave Advertising

They do not leave because it got hard. They leave because it stopped being the job they joined.

What Gen Z Actually Means By Work-Life Balance

Read as a demand for less work. It is closer to a demand for a reason.

How To Build A Portfolio When You Have No Real Clients

The people reading it know you had no clients. They are looking for something else entirely.

Brand Builders

Sridhar Vembu, Who Made Refusal the Positioning

Most companies say what they stand for. This one is located where it stands, which is harder to imitate.

R.G. Chandramogan, Who Started With Ice Candy

C.K. Ranganathan, Who Scaled an Idea He Did Not Invent

Swapnil Jain And The Engineering Behind Ather

Tarun Mehta, Who Sold The Ride Before The Battery

Radhika Ghai And The Long Tail Of Indian Retail

Arjun Vaidya, Who Modernised A Family Inheritance

CampaignsAll →

A child looking up at a wall switch, a frame from the Schneider Electric festive film

Schneider Electric Makes A Festive Campaign About A Switch

The hardest brief in the house: make somebody notice the switch on the wall.

A woman smiling in a red steel kitchen, a frame from the Interio by Godrej campaign film

Interio Makes The Case For Steel By Filling The Kitchen

Madhuri Dixit holding a pack of Ghadi detergent, a frame from the Vishwas Ki Pariksha film

Ghadi Puts Its New Formulation Through A Test On Camera

A couple laughing together in the back of a car, a frame from the Hinge India campaign film

Hinge Builds Its India Campaign On The Quiet Signs

Ranbir Kapoor Plays Five Of Himself To Launch A Shower Gel

SKINN Argues That Perfume Should Not Be Saved For The Occasion

HSBC Mutual Fund Builds A Campaign On A Pun You Cannot Unsee

OpenAI Signs Sachin Tendulkar For A Multi-Year Push On ChatGPT In India

FeatureSocial-FirstAll →

A large blank disclosure tag beside a torn halftone portrait of a woman on a flat yellow ground

What ASCI's AI Labelling Rules Mean For Creator Posts

What A Brand Owes A Creator After The Campaign Ends

A halftone conveyor belt carrying identical small squares off the edge of the frame, on a saturated mustard ground

The Real Cost Of Always-On Social Content

Three price tags descend in a line towards a torn halftone portrait of a man on a coral ground

FeatureIndian Ad LegendsAll →

The Festive Creator Rate Card

For six weeks a year the creator has the leverage. Most of them still price as though they do not.

Why B2B Brands Are Finally Getting Social Right

What Happens To A Brand When The Algorithm Changes

The Rights Problem Hiding In Every UGC Campaign

Why Nano Influencers Outperform Their Follower Count

BrandsAll →

Brands

H&M Beauty India Signs Sharvari As Its First Ambassador

A year old in the category, and the first face is signed before the range is complete.

A smartphone beside a cinema ticket as halftone cutouts on a flat forest green ground, for the OPPO and Drishyam partnership

OPPO Ties The F35 To Drishyam The Conclusion

A running shoe beside a clapperboard as halftone cutouts on a flat crimson ground, for the RANNR ambassador announcement

RANNR Names Rajkummar Rao As Its Brand Ambassador

A solar panel beside a small house as halftone cutouts on a flat sky blue ground, for the Freyr Energy ambassador announcement

Freyr Energy Signs Rohit Sharma As Its First Brand Ambassador

Fastrack and Lollapalooza India key visual announcing the 2027 festival partnership

Fastrack Joins Lollapalooza India 2027 As Co-Presenting Partner

An open textbook beside a stack of coloured pencils as halftone cutouts on a flat teal ground, for the OUP and Canva classroom partnership

Oxford University Press Puts Canva Into Its School Series

A television set overlapping a packet of soya chunks as halftone cutouts on a flat yellow ground, for the Nutrela in-content campaign

Nutrela Moves Into In-Content Advertising On Star Jalsha

Newsletter

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Ad world news, campaigns and moves, a few times a week. No noise.

A graphite pencil portrait of Prasoon Joshi, the poet who gave brands their voice

The Story of Prasoon Joshi, the Poet Who Gave Brands a Soul

Read the story of Prasoon Joshi, one of Indian advertising's most influential figures, known for McCann, Coca-Cola's Thanda Matlab campaign and a rare career that spans advertising, poetry and film.

A graphite pencil portrait of Arun Nanda, the adman who built Rediffusion

The Story of Arun Nanda, the Adman Who Built Rediffusion

A graphite pencil portrait of Mohammed Khan, the adman who built Enterprise

The Story of Mohammed Khan, the Gentleman Who Built Three Iconic Agencies

Graphite pencil portrait of K.V. Sridhar, the Leo Burnett creative chief known across Indian advertising as Pops.

FeatureCreative RoomAll →

The Story of K.V. Sridhar, the Artist the Industry Calls Pops

The Story of Prasoon Pandey, the Director Who Filmed India's Most Loved Ads

The Story of Prahlad Kakkar, the Man Who Made Ad Films Fun

The Story of R. Balki, the Adman Who Turned Ideas Into Films

The Story of Swati Bhattacharya, the Voice That Changed How India Talks About Women

NewsAll →

Maars Communicates Keeps The Animeta PR Mandate

ADFEST Unveils A New Logo, Designed By Santosh Padhi

Apple Pay Launches In India With Axis Bank Cards

Clarity Communication And Virtual Pebbles Tie Up On PR And Digital

Tempest Advertising Wins Mahyco International’s Philippines Mandate

Sandpiper Adds Public Affairs Directors In Dubai And Singapore

Famous Studios, 80 Years Old, Repositions As A Full Content Business

ASCI Draws The Line On AI In Ads: Some Things A Label Cannot Fix

A tilted photograph of an empty boardroom beside one small sealed envelope on a black ground

How An Agency Decides Not To Pitch

A single rolled document stands the full height of the frame with torn tape radiating behind it

What A Treatment Looks Like When There Is No Shoot

A bold halftone cutout of a pair of scissors with a thick white border on a black ground with teal and coral shapes

Who Decides The Final Cut

A tall blank phone and a wide letterbox landscape card set at right angles on a black ground

How The Vertical Frame Became The Default

For a decade vertical was the crop. It is now the original, and everything else is the adaptation.

What Happens After A Hit Campaign

How Directors Are Chosen For An Ad Film

How Budget Shapes The Idea Before Anyone Admits It

What Changes When A Celebrity Joins The Campaign

Ad TechAll →

OptimizeGEO Crosses 100 Brands As Michael Kassan Invests

A bar chart beside a film strip as halftone cutouts on a flat magenta ground, for the Instagram Edits AI assistant

Instagram Puts An AI Analyst Inside Its Editing App

A vertical phone beside a stack of coins as halftone cutouts on a flat violet ground, for the Meta micro drama playbook

Meta Publishes A Playbook For Micro Drama Platforms

A cloud server rack beside a small clipboard as halftone cutouts on a flat deep blue ground, for the OpenAI Dots launch

FeatureCampaigns That Built IndiaAll →

OpenAI Launches Dots, Agents That Work On Their Own

Halftone collage of a salt packet and a pair of scales on charcoal, for Tata Salt’s Desh Ka Namak positioning

Campaigns That Built India

How Tata Salt’s Desh Ka Namak Turned A Commodity Into A Claim

Salt is the hardest thing in a shop to differentiate. Tata stopped trying to and argued about the country instead.

Halftone collage of a paper kite and a pair of spectacles on charcoal, for Google’s Reunion film

How Google’s Reunion Made A Search Box Feel Like A Border Crossing

Halftone collage of a laundry basket and a wedding ring on charcoal, for Ariel’s Share the Load campaign

How Ariel’s Share The Load Put A Chore At The Centre Of An Argument

Halftone collage of a tanpura and a vintage broadcast microphone on charcoal, for Mile Sur Mera Tumhara

How Mile Sur Mera Tumhara Became The Film India Cannot Agree On

Halftone collage of a boxy television set and a pair of horns on charcoal, for the Onida devil campaign

How Onida’s Devil Sold Envy To A Country That Had To Wait

Halftone collage of a detergent sachet and a bicycle on charcoal, for the Nirma washing powder story

How Nirma’s Jingle Undercut Surf And Rewrote The Detergent Market

Halftone collage of a detergent carton and a shopping basket on charcoal, for the Surf Lalitaji campaign

How Surf’s Lalitaji Made Thrift The Smart Woman’s Argument

FeatureBrand ComebacksAll →

A collage of a vintage wooden television set beside a modern flat screen on a magenta ground

BPL: Reviving a Legacy Electronics Brand in a New Market

BPL was a 1990s electronics champion before global brands took over. Why reviving a legacy tech name is one of the hardest comebacks of all.

Wooden barrels beside a dark rum bottle in a warm toned collage

Old Monk: The Brand That Stayed Alive Without Advertising

A collage of a motorcycle, riders in helmets and an open road with arrows

Royal Enfield: From Fading Motorcycle Brand to Global Cult

A halftone collage of cut gemstones and gold rings on a magenta ground

Tanishq: From Market Skepticism to India's Most Trusted Jeweller

Maggi: The Ultimate Trust-Rebuild After the 2015 Crisis

Rasna: A Childhood Summer Brand Fights to Stay Relevant

Kinetic Luna: From Middle-Class Icon to Electric Comeback

Tata Sierra: The Return of an Iconic SUV Nameplate

Tribe TicksAll →

A resistance band coiled beside a delivery bag as halftone cutouts on a flat warm orange ground

Ten-Minute Delivery Changed What Fitness Brands Can Sell

A string of festival lights swags across the top of a coral frame above open empty space

How Festive Advertising Budgets Actually Get Spent

A halftone photographic cutout of a stadium floodlight with a thick white sticker border on an amber ground

Why Indian Brands Still Buy Cricket

Halftone collage of a billboard frame pushed hard into one corner of the frame, for how outdoor advertising survived