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FeatureBrand BuildersAll →

Suhaas Sonpar Takes Over Commercials And Revenue At Ai+ Smartphone

Giamaria Fernandes Joins Tilt Brand Solutions To Head Design

Aditya Vardhan, appointed vice president for IT and group chief information security officer at Jindal Steel

Aditya Vardhan Named VP IT And Group CISO At Jindal Steel

Subhajit Sengupta, returning to Times Network as vice president and head of social media and video monetisation

Subhajit Sengupta Returns To Times Network As Vice President

A blister pack of tablets and a wellness jar, as halftone cutouts, for Gaurav Kaul taking charge at Cipla Health

Gaurav Kaul Named Managing Director And CEO Of Cipla Health

Ramesh Srinivasan, appointed head of growth and revenue at the home services platform Snabbit

Snabbit Hands Ramesh Srinivasan Growth And Revenue

FeatureWork LifeAll →

A single chair placed outside a grid of identical desks, in dusty blue and sand

Work Life

Is Freelance Becoming A Career Choice, Not A Backup Plan?

It used to be what you said when you were between jobs. Increasingly it is the plan.

The Small Behaviours That Decide Whether People Stay Or Leave

Exit interviews record the salary. They almost never record the actual reason.

What Does Success In Advertising Actually Look Like?

Almost everyone wants the title. Almost nobody wants it as the point of the career.

Is AI Removing The Apprenticeship Layer Of Creative Work?

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

Brand Builders

T.S. Kalyanaraman, Who Bought Trust With a Face

In jewellery the purchase is rare, expensive and anxious. A familiar face is not vanity. It is collateral.

Sridhar Vembu, Who Made Refusal the Positioning

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

CampaignsAll →

Pratibha Ranta holding the Midnight Vanilla bottle against a red fringe backdrop, from the Fastrack Perfumes gourmand film

Fastrack Perfumes Makes Fragrance Look Good Enough To Eat

A category that normally describes how something smells has made a film about how it tastes. The trick is that nobody in it ever drinks the perfume.

MTR Builds A Festive Campaign Around A Book Of Sweet Talk

The staff and residents of the fictional Home for Old Age Appliances outside the house, from Flipkart's Big Billion Days film

Flipkart Opens A Retirement Home For Old Appliances

A woman choosing wedding outfits while a painter works on the wall behind her, from the Asian Paints Beautiful Homes film

Asian Paints Beautiful Homes Sets Its Campaign Inside A Wedding

Whirlpool Luxuriem Turns The Brand Jingle Into A Three Film Campaign

Kranti Cookbook Asks Whether Indian Food Was Ever Freed

Godawan Spends Eight Months And 5,200 Ceramics On One Bird

AJIO Signs Ahaan Panday For A Festival That Will Not End

FeatureSocial-FirstAll →

A play button lands across the corner of a torn halftone portrait on a flat magenta ground

Live Shopping Is Finally Working, Quietly

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

The Festive Creator Rate Card

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

A cluster of comment bubbles crowds the top of a blue frame above one small torn portrait

FeatureIndian Ad LegendsAll →

Why Brands Are Paying For Comments, Not Just Posts

The post is the advertisement. The comments are the review, and reviews are now being bought.

What A Brand Owes A Creator After The Campaign Ends

The Real Cost Of Always-On Social Content

Why B2B Brands Are Finally Getting Social Right

What Happens To A Brand When The Algorithm Changes

BrandsAll →

Brands

Royaloak Value Stores Post Early Sales In Smaller Towns

Furniture is the category online never fully took. A compact store in a town of a hundred thousand is a bet on people still wanting to sit on the sofa first.

Gold Shunya frames resting on red velvet with a sitar behind them, from Lenskart's Indian Accents collection

Lenskart Builds An Eyewear Collection Out Of Indian Music

A boarding pass and a desk calendar, as halftone cutouts, for ixigo for work bringing corporate fares into the main booking flow

ixigo for work Puts Corporate Fares Inside The Main App

A smartphone and a string of festive lights, as halftone cutouts, for Sreeleela becoming the Vibe Face of HMD in India

HMD Names Sreeleela The Vibe Face Of Its Smartphones

An instant camera and a printed photograph, as halftone cutouts, for Rashmika Mandanna joining Fujifilm India as its imaging ambassador

Rashmika Mandanna Is Fujifilm India's Imaging Brand Ambassador

A blank smartphone beside a marigold garland, as halftone cutouts, for flutrr repositioning as The Love Marriage App

Flutrr Stops Choosing Between Dating And Matrimony

Paul John Repacks The Whisky And Leaves It Alone

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 →

JioStar Opens Its Regional-Language Cricket Feeds To Advertisers

91.6% of consumers to maintain or increase festive spending, reports BigCity Promotions.

CBC Gives 90 Channels Until 21 October To File Papers

Musk Will Rename SpaceXAI To SpaceXSI

Apple Removes Bitchat From The India App Store

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

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

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 ring light cropped by the corner of the frame with torn teal and coral fragments drifting away

How Teams Work With Creators They Did Not Cast

The campaign was written for a film. The list it has to run on was bought separately.

Who Decides The Final Cut

What Happens After A Hit Campaign

How Directors Are Chosen For An Ad Film

How Budget Shapes The Idea Before Anyone Admits It

Ad TechAll →

A phone screen filled edge to edge and a folded newspaper, as halftone cutouts, for the Facebook Reels first test in India

Facebook Reels Take Over The Opening Screen In An India Test

A measuring tape and a speech bubble, as halftone cutouts, for DoubleVerify bringing ChatGPT Ads into attribution

DoubleVerify Starts Measuring What ChatGPT Ads Do

A bundle of cables feeding one socket, as halftone cutouts, for the Airtel IQ Gateway launch

Airtel Business Puts Every Message Channel In One Gate

A strip of film cut into short pieces beside a play triangle, as halftone cutouts, for ZEE5 Clips

FeatureCampaigns That Built IndiaAll →

ZEE5 Turns Its Back Catalogue Into A Swipe Feed

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 Nokia candybar handset beside a modern smartphone, with a hand reaching for it

Nokia India: A Nostalgia-Led Mobile Comeback

Nokia once was the phone in India before the smartphone era. How it came back through licensing, nostalgia feature phones and lingering goodwill.

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

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

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

Tribe TicksAll →

Traffic Signal: The 90-Second Sales Pitch

A supermarket shelf edge runs the full width of a teal frame like a horizon with empty space above

What Retail Media Did To The Indian Media Plan

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