MAM
GoDaddy launches second phase Bijness Bhai campaign in India
NEW DELHI: GoDaddy Inc, a company that empowers everyday entrepreneurs, has launched the second phase of its marketing campaign for India – Bijness Bhai. This campaign continues the focus on encouraging small businesses in India to build a complete, integrated online business, and creates awareness about how GoDaddy’s online products and services can help them unlock success.
GoDaddy’s current brand ambassador in India and one of the world’s most renowned cricketers, MS Dhoni, returns as the mentor Bijness Bhai, with twice the groove and charm. He will be seen encouraging small business owners, entrepreneurs and individuals across the country to take full advantage of owning a domain name by using it to create a website and getting a professional email, while maintaining a diverse social media presence to help achieve business success online.
In line with the company’s commitment to offer support in local languages, the marketing campaign will be available in seven Indian languages, including Hindi, Gujarati, Kannada, Malayalam, Marathi, Tamil and Telugu, to help spread the message to Indian small business owners and entrepreneurs across multiple geographies in the country.
“As an aspiring entrepreneur myself, I understand the importance of being online to be able to sustain and grow amidst challenging and uncertain times, like we are experiencing right now. I’m super excited to be working with GoDaddy again as Bijness Bhai and help encourage more entrepreneurs, from across the country, to build a complete online solution for their businesses,” said MS Dhoni.
Conceptualized by Tilt Brand Solutions, the campaign features two quirky television commercials (TVCs) with Dhoni as “Bijness Bhai”, a role model for entrepreneurs, makers and independent doers, who advises them to further advance their online journeys and grow their business by using GoDaddy’s online products and services. Through a fun, engaging narrative, the commercials bring alive GoDaddy’s proposition of being the ideal partner of the new India’s driven and advanced entrepreneurial and small business ecosystem.
"We are extremely excited to again partner with MS Dhoni. Known for his 'cool' approach to complex and high-pressure situations, Mahi has been the perfect 'Bijness Bhai', guiding our customers on how to make their online businesses grow. By working with Dhoni, we wish to continue guiding and inspiring Indian entrepreneurs to follow their dreams and transform their business ideas into reality online,” said GoDaddy India MD and VP Nikhil Arora.
“As businesses around the world are experiencing unprecedented impacts of COVID-19, we at GoDaddy stand committed to extend our support by helping them thrive online. Through this campaign and our association with Dhoni, we want to educate Indian entrepreneurs and small business owners about the benefits of going online especially during this current crisis, while demonstrating the power of our integrated suite of online products and services to help them create and grow their businesses online," Arora added.
Currently. the two TVCs have been released on GoDaddy’s official online and social channels, and will be live across various channels including TV and other digital platforms, in the coming few days.
MAM
VML India lands two finalist spots at Cairns Hatchlings 2026
The Mumbai agency is back in Australia with two teams, a UN brief and 24 hours to impress
MUMBAI: VML India is heading to Australia again. The Mumbai-based creative agency has secured two finalist spots at the Cairns Hatchlings 2026 competition, one in the Audio category and one in Design, making it the only Indian agency to have reached the finals in both editions of the contest since its launch in 2025.
Four people will make the trip. Senior copywriter Shilpi Dey and senior art director Raj Thakkar will compete in Audio. Art directors Shabbir and Shruti Negi will go head-to-head with the world’s best in Design. The finals take place at the Cairns Convention Centre from 13th May, culminating in an awards ceremony on 15th May.
The work that got them there is worth examining. For the Audio category, Dey and Thakkar tackled a brief for LIVE LIKE MMAD with a campaign called Inner Voice, Interrupted. Using spatial audio techniques, the campaign recreates the overwhelming self-doubt that descends after a long workday, physically panning negative thoughts left and right before cutting the noise entirely to reveal a confident inner voice. Strategically targeted at commuters via Spotify during evening rush hours, the campaign reframes the hours after work as an opportunity for personal growth and charitable action.
For the Design category, Shabbir and Negi worked on a brief for Canteen’s Bandanna Day, a campaign highlighting how cancer pushes teenagers out of their own defining moments. Using a pixelated design language to create stark contrast between a blurred world of isolation and a focused world of connection, the campaign, titled The Flipside of Cancer, shows teenagers fading into the background of birthdays, skateparks and school proms. As a Canteen bandanna appears, the blur flips and the teenager snaps back into sharp focus.
Kalpesh Patankar, group chief creative officer of VML India, made no attempt to disguise his satisfaction. “We are immensely proud to see our teams consistently excel on the Cairns Hatchlings platform since its inception,” he said. “They have masterfully tackled challenging briefs across diverse categories, demonstrating both layered storytelling and a unique creative approach. This exceptional teamwork is truly inspiring.”
Dey and Thakkar, returning to the finals after last year’s run, were candid about the demands of the audio medium. “It’s one of the most demanding mediums, where we only have a few seconds to capture a listener’s world with sound alone, so absolute clarity is essential,” they said. “The true measure of creative work is its ability to create positive change, and our audio submission was made to help those who need it most while encouraging people to silence the inner voices that hold them back.”
Shabbir and Negi, competing in Design for the first time, described the experience as “a completely different beast.” “We see it as an opportunity to showcase our expertise, raise the bar, and challenge ourselves in new ways, while also learning from creative minds from across the globe,” they said.
In Australia, the four finalists will face a live 24-hour brief from the United Nations before presenting in a live pitch session. Twenty-four hours, one brief, one shot. VML India has been here before. It knows exactly what is at stake.
