AD Agencies
Taboola and Microsoft mark 10-year ad romance, dial up the partnership
MUMBAI: Let’s face it, relationships rarely last longer than your last smartphone battery—but Taboola and Microsoft are proving to be the power couple of digital advertising, celebrating their 10 anniversary. That’s practically a century in internet years! And just when we thought this match made in ad-heaven couldn’t get any hotter, Taboola is dialling up the romance, now serving ads across even more Microsoft apps, including your trusty email companion, Outlook, and your favourite work buddy, Office 365.
Taboola, known for turning ads into engaging conversations rather than annoying pop-ups, has long run ads on Microsoft’s digital giants like MSN, Edge browsers, and Windows experiences. MSN is already one of the world’s most visited news hubs, while Edge is that AI-powered browser we’ve all accidentally clicked on at least once—admit it, it happens.
Now, Taboola extends its clever AI-powered tech to the Microsoft 365 productivity suite, giving advertisers an unprecedented opportunity to connect with nearly 600 million daily active users. Yes, that’s almost twice the population of the United States—daily! Taboola helps digital properties monetise better, and advertisers reach audiences who are actually awake and paying attention, a rare combo these days.
“Reaching a decade serving ads with an industry leader such as Microsoft is an incredible milestone,” said Taboola CEO Adam Singolda. “Our collaboration has been established for the long-term, and on Taboola’s ability to help Microsoft provide richer experiences on its immensely popular digital properties. As we expand to offer advertising on additional Microsoft properties, we’re giving advertisers even more access to trusted, premium destinations that reach people across all different parts of their day as they’re actively engaged.”
Ten years down the line, Taboola and Microsoft are still making sweet digital music together. How’s that for relationship goals in a world filled with Tinder swipes and 30-second Tiktok romances?
AD Agencies
The smell that told Mumbaikars which station was next
Tata AIA turns Mumbai’s Parle-G memory into a sharp, city-wise outdoor play
MUMBAI: When a biscuit factory became Mumbai’s unofficial station announcement. Long before smartphone maps and automated announcements, commuters on Mumbai’s Western line relied on their noses. As trains rolled into Vile Parle, compartments filled with the warm, sweet smell of baking biscuits from the Parle-G factory. It was a cue to gather bags, wake dozing children and shuffle towards the door.
Now that memory has been pressed into service by Tata AIA Life Insurance as part of its 25-year anniversary outdoor campaign — a city-by-city salute to the lived moments that shape urban life.
One hoarding, mounted close to the old factory site, reads: “We have been protecting Mumbaikars since Vile Parle smelled of freshly made biscuits.” Spare. Local. Loaded.
The broader campaign, rolled out across major metros, leans hard into contextual storytelling. In Kolkata, it nods to trams. In Pune, to Magarpatta’s transformation. In Bengaluru, to a time before IT parks. In Chennai, to OMR before it led to tech corridors. Each line anchors the brand’s longevity to a shared civic memory.
The Mumbai execution is the most evocative. For decades, the Parle-G factory was more than a production unit. It was a sensory landmark. Residents nearby set their clocks by the factory horn. Office-goers marked their commute by the waft of glucose and flour. When the plant shut, the city lost more than jobs. It lost a rhythm.
By placing the hoarding beside the former factory, the insurer collapses distance between copy and context. The site does half the storytelling. The rest comes from commuters who remember opening steel tiffins packed with Parle-G, or jolting awake as the train slowed.
It is a neat piece of brand positioning. Rather than trumpet balance sheets or policy counts, Tata AIA borrows emotional equity from the city itself. Twenty-five years becomes less a milestone and more a presence — steady, local, embedded.
Outdoor advertising is often a blunt instrument. This one is anything but. It whispers. It remembers. And in doing so, it sells trust without sounding like it is selling at all.
The scent may have faded. The memory has not.
