MAM
Lay’s joins hands with leading brands to thank #heartwork of unsung heroes
NEW DELHI: Earlier this month, LAY’S, one of India’s leading potato chip brands, launched a campaign to express gratitude towards the unsung heroes of India who have brought joy to millions even in these challenging times. Aptly titled #HEARTWORK, the ongoing campaign is a heartfelt, emotional ode to heroes such as farmers, retailers, truck drivers and many more who are working relentlessly against all odds bringing joy to millions of consumers across the country.
Taking this campaign forward, LAY’S aimed to mobilise partners across the industry to pay a tribute to these unsung heroes who have worked tirelessly to bring joy to millions of consumers in India. The idea was to bring the industry together to express gratitude towards these heroes for their continued hard work in the challenging times, which is actually #Heartwork.
To bring this message alive, LAY’S has done a unique, never-seen-before social media engagement with more than 20 loved brands from across the industry to thank the #Heartwork of numerous unsung heroes of India by sharing special virtual branded LAY’S #Heartwork packs on Twitter and Instagram today. These special branded packs feature custom messages thanking the respective brand and the unsung heroes collectively in a fun and quirky manner. The objective is to appreciate and thank the relentless efforts of the many unseen heroes associated with these brands like Flipkart, Tide, Vistara, etc. for their #Heartwork.
PepsiCo India senior director and category head – foods Dilen Gandhi, said, “At the beginning of this month, we launched a campaign – #Heartwork to thank farmers, truck drivers, retailers, and many more unsung heroes who have brought joy to millions. Maintaining the chain of gratitude, we reached out to leading companies and brands such as Flipkart, Tide, Vistara, Kia and Cadbury and many more, with a customised virtual pack to express our gratitude for their #Heartwork. At the time when consumers couldn’t step out, the unsung heroes played an essential role in providing products & services every day across the country. Their tireless hard work is indeed Heartwork. We hope this will inspire many more brands join this journey and appreciate these unseen heroes.”
Engaging brands and netizens alike, the activity has created a stir on these leading social media platforms. Brands like Flipkart, Zomato, Dunzo, Swiggy, and Whisper have responded to the unique gesture with heartfelt messages thanking members of the supply chain and LAY’S for their #Heartwork. This camaraderie between the brands not only appealed to the netizens but also showcased the collective efforts of leading brands to give back to the unsung heroes of the country.
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Digital
Content India 2026 opens with a copro pitch, a spice evangelist and a £10,000 prize for Indian storytelling
Dish TV and C21Media’s three-day summit puts seven ambitious projects before an international jury, and two walk away with serious development money
MUMBAI: India’s content industry gathered in Mumbai this March for Content India 2026, a three-day summit organised by Dish TV in partnership with C21Media, and it wasted no time making a statement. The event opened with a Copro Pitch that put seven scripted and unscripted television concepts before an international panel of judges, and by the end of it, two projects had walked away with £10,000 each in marketing prize money from C21Media to support development and international promotion.
The jury, comprising Frank Spotnitz, Fiona Campbell, Rashmi Bajpai, Bal Samra and Rachel Glaister, evaluated a shortlist that ranged from a dark Mumbai comedy-drama about mental health (Dirty Minds, created by Sundar Aaron) to a Delhi coming-of-age mystery (Djinn Patrol, by Neha Sharma and Kilian Irwin), a techno-thriller about a teenage gaming prodigy (Kanpur X Satori, by Suchita Bhatia), an investigative crime drama blending mythology and modern thriller (The Age of Kali, by Shivani Bhatija), a documentary on India’s spice heritage (The Masala Quest, hosted by Sarina Kamini), a documentary on competitive gaming (Respawn: India’s Esports Revolution, by George Mangala Thomas and Sangram Mawari), and a reality-horror competition merging gaming and immersive fear (Scary Goose, by Samar Iqbal).
The session was hosted by Mayank Shekhar.
The two winners were Djinn Patrol, backed by Miura Kite, formerly of Participant Media and known for Chinatown and Keep Sweet: Pray & Obey, with Jaya Entertainment, producers of Real Kashmir Football Club, also attached; and The Masala Quest, created and hosted by Sarina Kamini, an Indian-Australian cook, author and self-described “spice evangelist.”
The summit also unveiled the Content India Trends Report, whose findings made for bracing reading. Daoud Jackson, senior analyst at OMDIA, set the tone: “By 2030, online video in India will nearly double the revenue of traditional TV, becoming the main driver of growth.” He noted that in 2025, India produced a quarter of all YouTube videos globally, overtaking the United States, while Indians collectively spend 117 years daily on YouTube and 72 years on Instagram. Traditional subscription TV is declining as free TV and connected TV gain ground, forcing broadcasters to innovate. “AI-generated content is just 2 per cent of engagement,” Jackson added, “highlighting the dominance of high-quality human content. The key for Indian media companies is scaling while monetising effectively from day one.”
Hannah Walsh, principal analyst at Ampere Analysis, added hard numbers to the picture. India produced over 24,000 titles in January 2026 alone, with 19,000 available internationally. The country now accounts for 12 per cent of Asia-Pacific content spend, up from 8 per cent in 2021, outpacing both Japan and China. Key exporters include JioStar, Zee Entertainment, Sony India, Amazon and Netflix, delivering over 7,500 Indian-produced titles abroad each year. The top importing markets are Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Egypt, the United States and the Philippines. Scripted content dominates globally at 88 per cent, with crime dramas and children’s and family titles performing particularly strongly.
Manoj Dobhal, chief executive and executive director of Dish TV India, framed the summit’s ambition squarely. “Stories don’t need translation. They need a platform, discovery, and reach, local or global,” he said. “India produces more movies than any country, our streaming platforms compete globally, and our tech and creators win international awards. Yet fragmentation slows growth. Producers, platforms, and tech move in different lanes. We need shared spaces, collaboration, and an ecosystem where ideas, technology, and people meet. That is why we built Content India.”
The data, the pitches and the prize money all pointed to the same conclusion: India is not waiting for the world to discover its stories. It is building the infrastructure to sell them.
