Ad Tribe — daily news on India’s advertising industry

airpay Marks 14 Years With A First Brand Film Built On Being Forgotten

Most payments advertising sells speed. This one argues that the highest compliment a payment can earn is that nobody noticed it.

A chess knight and a bowl of noodles as halftone cutouts, for the YiPPee Checkmate Challenge featuring Magnus Carlsen in Bengaluru

YiPPee Puts 25 Young Players Across The Board From Magnus Carlsen

Hafele India Puts Sachin Tendulkar Back In The Kitchen For Its Second Film

Duolingo's owl mascot Duo dancing in a Punjabi celebration in the Ullu Da Pattha campaign film

Duolingo Turns Ullu Da Pattha Into A Compliment For Punjabi Learners

SpeakX Signs MS Dhoni To Tell India Muh Khol, English Bol

Greenply Turns TermiVax Into A Termite News Bulletin

Smith & Jones Puts Pasta Masala In The School Tiffin

Edwards Lifesciences Argues That Breathlessness Is Not Just Age

FeatureSocial-FirstAll →

A halftone alarm clock face beside a torn speech bubble, on a saturated red ground

What Brands Should Do In The First Hour Of A Social Crisis

A halftone cut-paper collage of a young person's face sliced into offset bands beside a bold empty speech bubble on a flat coral background

Culture Moves at Gen Z Speed, Can Brands Keep Up?

A halftone hand forwarding a message into a dark void, with the trail of shares disappearing off a bright chart

Why Dark Social Is India’s Biggest Measurement Blind Spot

A halftone crowd of small figures with one stepping forward carrying an oversized megaphone, on a saturated teal ground

FeatureIndian Ad LegendsAll →

Why Employees Are Becoming A Brand’s Most Credible Creators

The most trusted account talking about your company is not the brand handle. It belongs to someone who works there.

Why Authenticity Is the Hardest Metric in Social-First Advertising

From Creators to Communities: Why Brands Need to Build Offline Connections With Gen Z

How Internet Culture Is Changing Festive Advertising in India

The New Role of Copywriters in Meme and Creator Campaigns

BrandsAll →

A smartphone and a slender wand as halftone cutouts, for realme announcing a Harry Potter edition of the realme 16 Pro 5G

Brands

realme Announces A Harry Potter Edition Of The realme 16 Pro 5G

Second Warner Bros crossover in two generations, after Game of Thrones. Price, date and what is actually different remain unannounced.

A segmented chocolate bar and a whole hazelnut as halftone cutouts, for Ferrero Rocher entering India's premium bar segment at Rs 499

Ferrero Rocher Enters The Premium Bar Segment In India At Rs 499

A plastic bottle and a recycling symbol as halftone cutouts, for the SBI and Bisleri Bottles for Change plastic waste partnership

SBI Partners Bisleri For Plastic Waste Management Across Its Offices

Anchor Oral Care Signs Jos Buttler As Its First International Ambassador

Magnum By Safari Signs Saif Ali Khan As Brand Ambassador

A car and a football as halftone cutouts, for Hyundai becoming official automotive partner of the UEFA Champions League for five seasons

Hyundai Becomes Official Automotive Partner Of The UEFA Champions League

A perfume bottle and a cosmetic tube, as halftone cutouts, for Prowl's expanded men's grooming range

Prowl Takes Tiger Shroff's Grooming Range To 18 SKUs On Amazon

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

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

The Story of Arun Nanda, the Adman Who Built Rediffusion

Read the story of Diwan Arun Nanda, the IIM Ahmedabad gold medallist who left Hindustan Lever to co-found Rediffusion in 1973 and led it for half a century, behind campaigns from Eveready's Give Me Red to Gold Spot.

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.

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

A graphite pencil portrait of Prasoon Pandey, drawn with a film camera and a clapperboard

FeatureCreative RoomAll →

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

The Story of Alyque Padamsee, the Brand Father of Indian Advertising

NewsAll →

Grapes Worldwide And Alice And Albert Build A Cross-Border Partner Network

Havas India And Shortcut Launch Shortcut Shobiz India For Luxury Experiences

Sebamed Buys Into ChatGPT Advertising With WPP Media

Snapchat India Partners Qoruz To Open Its Creator Data To Brands

Amazon Launches Creator Connections To Match Creators With Brand Campaigns

BCCI Signs Campa Cola SBI Life And ChatGPT As Associate Partners

Indian Express Group Signs OpenAI Deal Covering Seven Languages

MY FM Expands Into Ambala And Panipat On Its Urban Bharat Push

Halftone collage of a reel-to-reel tape machine at large scale, for how sound and music are chosen

How Sound and Music Are Chosen for an Ad Film

Halftone collage of a rubber stamp pressing onto blank paper, for how campaign names are chosen

How Campaigns Get Their Names

A lump of coal beside a cut diamond, in halftone on a black ground

How Pressure Shapes Better Campaign Thinking

Halftone collage of an empty chair under a single spotlight, for how casting shapes a campaign

How Casting Decides What an Idea Feels Like

The script is approved and the idea is still undecided, because nobody has chosen the face yet.

Where Rejected Ideas Go and Why They Still Matter

How Editors Find the Strongest Story Inside an Ad Film

How Production Teams Turn Scripts Into Shootable Films

How Scripts Are Shaped Before an Ad Film Shoot

Ad TechAll →

A robot head and a megaphone, as halftone cutouts, for Wondrlab's WondrAgents influencer marketing system

Wondrlab Puts Seven AI Agents Behind Influencer Campaigns In WondrAgents

ReBid Adds ChatGPT Ads Activation And Analytics To Its Platform

Halftone paper cutouts of a computer monitor with a blank screen and a sand hourglass on a flat cobalt blue background

Google Moves Display Impressions To Begin To Render In 2027

Halftone paper cutouts of a smartphone and a folded paper utility bill on a flat green background

FeatureCampaigns That Built IndiaAll →

WhatsApp Opens Bill Payments In India With 22,722 Billers

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

Campaigns That Built India

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

Surf could not win on price, so it changed what price meant. Lalitaji did not defend the cost. She reframed it as evidence of judgement.

Halftone collage of a bar of soap and a falling stream of water on charcoal, for the Liril waterfall campaign

How Liril’s Waterfall Changed What Indian Advertising Could Show

Halftone collage of an ornate chandelier of bare bulbs glowing in darkness, marking the Happydent Palace commercial

How Happydent's Palace Lit a Kingdom With Teeth

Halftone collage of a chilled glass soft-drink bottle beaded with condensation, marking the Thanda Matlab Coca-Cola campaign

How Thanda Matlab Coca-Cola Annexed a Hindi Word

Halftone collage of two pairs of hands overlapping on a shared umbrella handle, marking SBI Life's Main Se Hum campaign

How SBI Life's Main Se Hum Made Insurance Sound Like Growing Up

Halftone collage of an empty window seat looking out over clouds, marking MakeMyTrip's Dil Toh Roaming Hai campaign

How MakeMyTrip's Dil Toh Roaming Hai Sold the Wish Before the Ticket

Halftone collage of bridal bangles and a child's hand, marking Tanishq's 2013 remarriage wedding film

How Tanishq's Remarriage Film Changed What an Indian Bride Could Look Like

FeatureBrand ComebacksAll →

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

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

Indians once distrusted branded gold. How Tanishq turned the category's deepest objection, purity, into its promise and became the trusted default.

A halftone bowl of steaming noodles beside a green tick on a red ground

Maggi: The Ultimate Trust-Rebuild After the 2015 Crisis

Children drinking orange squash beside a jug, glasses and orange slices under a sunburst

Rasna: A Childhood Summer Brand Fights to Stay Relevant

A halftone moped beside gears and a lightning bolt on a pale green ground

Kinetic Luna: From Middle-Class Icon to Electric Comeback

Tata Sierra: The Return of an Iconic SUV Nameplate

BSA: A British-Indian Motorcycle Heritage Returns

Yezdi: The Nostalgia-Led Motorcycle Revival

Jawa: How a Legendary Motorcycle Brand Came Back

Tribe TicksAll →

Halftone collage of an empty pedestal in deep negative space, for why brands stopped making mascots

Why Indian Advertising Stopped Making Mascots

Halftone collage of a building seen through a torn hole in paper, for the rise of in-house agencies

The Rise Of The In-House Agency In India

Halftone collage of many small screens scattered across the frame, each a different shape, for vernacular OTT

How Vernacular OTT Built A New Mass Audience

Halftone collage of a hand and a phone at enormous scale running off the frame, for what UPI did to advertising