Brands
Brands ride high on Raksha Bandhan ad campaigns
NEW DELHI: Raksha Bandhan is a festival of love and bond between a brother and sister and is all about creating special moments. As businesses across verticals have started operations, brands are encashing the opportunity through campaigns over digital media. The foremost reason brands roll out campaigns during this time is to drive engagement with storytelling. In return, this helps the brand to have a long-term relationship with the customers.
Every year, a number of campaigns are launched and this year, many brands are going a step ahead in creating something unique, which breaks the stereotypes and gives a powerful message to the mass audiences. Such campaigns not only resonate a better connection with the target audience but help them to connect at a deeper level.
Mondelez India
Mondelez India has come up with a campaign #CloserThisRakhi, TVC captures the playful relationship of a brother and sister wherein the sister is tying a rakhi to her brother while brooding over the fact that he has become everyone’s favourite sibling in the last three months of the lockdown by connecting with his extended family via video calls. Later when the sister asks him about his favourite sibling, instead of answering, he greets her with a piece of Cadbury Dairy Milk implying she is his favourite. It ends with them laughing and enjoying a box of Cadbury Celebrations showcasing a ‘Kuch Accha Ho Jaye, Kuch Meetha Ho Jaye’ moment of bringing people #CloserThisRakhi.
Mondelez India director – marketing (chocolates) Anil Viswanathan said, “In spite of the challenging times, we will continue to inspire India to celebrate with their friends and family. With the focus on spreading happiness and banking on the proposition of ‘Kuch Achha Ho Jaaye, Kuch Meetha Ho Jaaye’, the new campaign #CloserThisRakhi aims to drive positivity and remind people to bond with their loved ones and cherish every sweet moment possible. The relationship between siblings is rather a special one and like every year, we aim to instil the same joyfulness this Raksha Bandhan and further strengthen the jovial connection between a brother and a sister.”
Mankind Pharma
Mankind Pharma launched a video campaign saluting the #RealHeroes. Through this campaign, the brand is saluting the selfless hard work done by the medical staff for the society. The video showcases a sister requesting the hospital staff to let her in so that she can tie a rakhi to her brother and when she wasn’t allowed. She wished the hospital staff a happy Raksha Bandhan and handed over the rakhi to pass it on to her brother. When her brother received it, he tied it on the wrist of the nurse who had been taking care of him at the hospital.
Mankind Pharma CEO Rajeev Juneja said, “India now ranks third, in the daily increase in COVID2019 cases and this shows the rise in the responsibility of our medical staff, while we will be celebrating all festivities in the comfort of our home, the medical staff will be serving us and saving our lives. Through this campaign, we would like to thank these #RealHeroes and pray for their safety.”
Tanishq
Jewellery brand Tanishq has launched its latest Raksha Bandhan film which celebrates ‘sisters’; the ones who manage to be both, the most annoying as well as the most comforting presence in our lives and yet the ones who will always be there by our side through adversities and celebrations alike. The film beautifully pays a tribute to a special ‘sister’ who has been going out of her way especially in the wake of the current pandemic. The film is not only contextually relevant as it is high on emotions but is also true to the spirit of Raksha Bandhan.
The film ends with a twist where one realises that the sister is also a nurse or a ‘sister’ as nurses are fondly called in India thus urging everyone to #CelebrateEverySister, including nurses, this Raksha Bandhan. The film is written & directed by Bhavesh S Kosambia and produced by Oneness Media.
Usha
Showing the love between siblings – the ’tere haathon ka banaa dal ka halwa’, the honest happy banter, and the doorbell that brings a thoughtful surprise in the form of a new Usha Food Processor that the sister needed. Tender moments that evoke love and longing for siblings lead up to a celebration of Raksha Bandhan over a video call, driving home the message that love means ensuring you keep your near and dear ones safe in their homes.
Usha International president appliances Saurabh Baishakhia said, “Raksha Bandhan is all about the bond between siblings and we wanted them to celebrate that love, but in a responsible way in the times of Covid2019 – by staying safe at home. As for us, we are meeting them more than halfway by making all our products available online and ensuring safe delivery across channels so they don’t need to step out at all.”
The Man Company
Bollywood actor Ayushmann Khurrana and men’s grooming brand The Man Company have released a new digital film for Rakshabandhan that urges people to celebrate the tradition of tying a rakhi with a new perspective.
The ad shows Ayushmann Khurrana tying a rakhi on his sister’s wrist as opposed to the norm of sister’s tying it on their brothers’ wrists. Sisters often protect their brothers from both physical and mental harm and are always a comforting presence when things seem to be going astray. With a subtle change, the Idea promotes the idea of gender equality.
The Man Company founder and CEO Hitesh Dhingra said, “The #RakhiForSisters campaign is our attempt to acknowledge the protecting roles that doting sisters invariably play for their brothers. It is also our effort to convey that it is ok to relook at certain traditions and bring them in sync with the modern reality of gender equality.”
Daawat Basmati Rice
Daawat celebrates the unbreakable bond of siblings through the video, themed around ‘Khud ki raksha karke apno ki raksha karein’. This Raksha Bandhan, all the brothers would be eagerly looking forward to seeing their sisters who stay away and sisters would be even more anxious to tie rakhis. However, in the current situation, the true meaning of Raksha Bandhan is very different.
The campaign showcases that both brother and sister celebrate the festival with social distancing as distance is the best protection one can provide to their siblings.
Brands
YES Bank hands the keys to SBI veteran Vinay Tonse as it bets on a new era
Former SBI managing director appointed as YES Bank’s new MD and CEO
MUMBAI: YES Bank is done rebuilding. Now it wants to grow. The private sector lender has appointed Vinay Muralidhar Tonse as managing director and chief executive officer-designate, with RBI approval secured and a start date of April 6, 2026 confirmed. The three-year term signals the bank’s intent to shift gears from crisis recovery to full-throttle expansion.
Tonse, 60, is no stranger to scale. Most recently managing director at State Bank of India, he oversaw a retail book of roughly $800bn in deposits and advances, one of the largest in the country. Before that, he ran SBI Mutual Fund from August 2020 to December 2022, a stint that saw assets under management surge from Rs 4.32 lakh crore to Rs 7.32 lakh crore across market cycles. Add stints in Singapore and four years leading SBI’s overseas operations in Osaka, and the incoming chief arrives with a genuinely global CV.
His academic grounding is equally solid: a commerce degree from St Joseph’s College of Commerce, Bengaluru, and a master’s in commerce from Bangalore University.
The appointment follows an extensive search and evaluation process by the bank’s Nomination and Remuneration Committee. NRC chairperson Nandita Gurjar said the committee unanimously backed Tonse, citing his leadership track record, governance credentials and ability to drive the bank’s next phase of transformation.
Non-executive chairman Rama Subramaniam Gandhi was unequivocal. “I am certain that Vinay Tonse, with his vast experience as a senior banker, will propel YES Bank to its next phase of growth,” Gandhi said, adding that the bank remains focused on strengthening its retail and corporate banking franchises and expanding its branch network.
Rajeev Kannan, non-executive director and senior executive at Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation, the bank’s largest shareholder, said Tonse’s experience across retail, corporate banking, global markets and asset management positioned him well to lead the lender. SMBC said it looks forward to working with Tonse and the board as YES Bank pursues its ambition of becoming a top-tier private sector lender anchored in strong governance and sustainable growth.
Tonse succeeds Prashant Kumar, who took the helm in March 2020 when YES Bank was in freefall following a severe financial crisis, and spent six years painstakingly stabilising the institution, rebuilding governance and restoring operational scale. Gandhi was generous: “The bank remains indebted to Prashant Kumar, who is responsible for much of what a strong financial powerhouse YES Bank is today.”
Tonse, for his part, struck a purposeful note. “Together with the board and my colleagues, I remain deeply committed to creating long-term value for all our stakeholders,” he said, pledging to build on Kumar’s foundation guided by his personal motto: Make A Difference.
Beyond the balance sheet, Tonse played cricket at college and club level and represented Karnataka in archery at the national championships — sports he credits with teaching him teamwork, situational leadership, discipline and focus. In quieter moments, he reaches for retro Kannada music, classic Hindi songs, and the crooning of Engelbert Humperdinck, Mukesh and Kishore Kumar.
YES Bank has its steady-handed rebuilder in Kumar to thank for survival. Now it has a scale-obsessed growth banker at the wheel. The next chapter starts April 6.
