Ad Campaigns
157 disruptive campaigns shortlisted for MMA SMARTIES India 2024
Mumbai: MMA Global India has unveiled the shortlist for the 13th edition of SMARTIES India 2024, recognising and celebrating the most impactful marketing campaigns that have redefined the boundaries of innovation. These campaigns have left an indelible mark on brands, agencies, media companies, and solution providers across India with their cutting-edge work.
This year, a total of 157 entries made it to the shortlist, received from various sectors including FMCG, OTT, retail, BFSI, and technology. The shortlist highlights the breadth of creativity and effectiveness in the respective categories, setting new benchmarks for marketing excellence.
MMA Global India Country Head and BOD Member Moneka Khurana reflected, “Congratulations to all the finalists of SMARTIES India 2024. Reviewing this year’s Smarties entries was a masterclass in excellence. The shortlist isn’t just a collection of campaigns – it’s a spotlight on ideas that truly push the boundaries and set new standards, making the shortlist a definitive guide to what brilliance looks like in our industry today. I am eagerly looking forward to celebrating the achievements of these outstanding campaigns at the Smarties gala.”
The diverse pan-industry selection jury comprised leaders from Havas Media, Lionsgate Play, FCB, Jio, Domino’s, Abbott, Flipkart, WPP, Dentsu, Mindshare, Niti Aayog, Times Network, LoveChild by Masaba, Zee5, Genpact, amongst many.
The final set of deliberations spread over a 3-day enriching jury meet was conducted by our marketer-only jury comprising leaders from Myntra, Hindustan Unilever, Tata, HDFC, Marico, Aditya Birla Group, Pepsico, MakeMyTrip, Godrej, Castrol, Wipro, Nivea, Perfetti, Leela, Hershey, HP, amongst more.
The jury was led by esteemed jury chairs, including Lenovo managing director Shailendra Katyal; Tata Consumer Products president – packaged foods Deepika Bhan; and Rohit Bhasin, MMA India Board Member; president, head – Affluent, NRI, business banking and CMO, Kotak Mahindra Bank.
Explore the full jury roster here.
New categories such as AI Marketing and Connected TV have garnered significant interest, reflecting the industry’s evolution towards AI-powered marketing strategies. It’s heartening to see a spectrum of brands and agencies leveraging these new categories to create impactful campaigns. Submissions in these categories came from the likes of Publicis, Amazon, Omnicom, Disney, Leo Burnett, Performics, Hansa Cequity, and Britannia, amongst others.
Jury chair Rohit Bhasin, MMA India Board Member; President, Head – Affluent, NRI, Business Banking and CMO, Kotak Mahindra Bank remarked, “Judging the SMARTIES 2024 entries was an exhilarating experience filled with on-the-edge moments and close calls. The level of competition was incredibly high, with many entries pushing the boundaries of innovation. I thoroughly enjoyed the free-flowing perspectives and deep insights shared by my fellow jury members. It was a privilege to witness firsthand the creativity and strategic brilliance that are shaping modern marketing.”
Key Highlights
Among the diverse array of categories featured in SMARTIES 2024, several sub-categories have stood out as magnets for innovation and creativity, attracting a substantial number of entries, the top ones being Creator/Influencer/Celebrity Marketing, Data Insights/Contextual Marketing, and Brand Experience.
Jury chair Tata Consumer Products, president of packaged foods Deepika Bhan shared, “In FMCG, innovation and consumer engagement are critical to measurable success. The SMARTIES Awards highlight how creative marketing can drive significant business impact. The entries this year, especially in new categories like AI Marketing and Connected TV, demonstrate how marketers are leveraging technology to create personalized and impactful consumer experiences. It’s inspiring to see such a high level of creativity and strategic thinking in the shortlisted campaigns.”
In interesting news, SMARTIES 2024 is globally certified in partnership with RECMA, the leading media agency research organization, ensuring that winners are recognized in globally acclaimed platforms.
Access the Full Shortlist Here.
Jury chair Lenovo managing director Shailendra Katyal remarked, “Being part of the SMARTIES jury and chairing the process this year has been an enlightening experience. The quality and diversity of the entries reflect the rapid advancements in our industry. It’s fascinating to see how marketers are integrating technology and creativity to drive engagement and business results. The shortlisted campaigns are a testament to the innovative spirit and strategic acumen that define marketing excellence.”
Next Stop: SMARTIES Unplugged & Gala
As the anticipation builds, the marketing industry eagerly awaits the SMARTIES 2024 Awards ceremony to celebrate the ingenuity, creativity, and business impact achieved by these outstanding campaigns. The winners will be announced at the gala event scheduled on 11th October in Mumbai, promising an evening of inspiration and recognition for the best in class modern marketing.
Ahead of the gala, the industry will gather for the return of SMARTIES Unplugged, a pre-gala enriching conference bringing together marketing thought leaders who will share innovative and creative work designed to benefit tomorrow’s marketers and the consumer’s changing mindset. Unplugged will uncover the transformative impact of technology-powered creative and media strategy and its impact whilst embracing marketing excellence in the AI era. This exclusive platform offers partners, industry luminaries, shortlisters and the best brains in the biz an opportunity to showcase exceptional work and share invaluable expertise.
Register for the gala + unplugged here – https://www.mmaglobal.com/smartiesindia2024#register
NATIONAL: Amazon Ads has laid out a sharply tech-led vision for the advertising industry in 2026, arguing that artificial intelligence, streaming TV and creator partnerships will combine to turn brand building into a more precise, performance-driven business.
At the heart of the shift, the company says, is the fusion of AI with Amazon’s vast trove of shopping, browsing and streaming signals, allowing advertisers to move beyond blunt reach metrics to campaigns designed around real customer behaviour.
“The future of advertising is not about reaching more people, but the right people with messages that resonate,” said Amazon Ads India head and vice president Girish Prabhu. “By combining AI with deep customer insights, we help brands move from broadcasting campaigns to having meaningful conversations wherever audiences spend their time.”
One of the biggest changes, according to Amazon Ads, will be the collapse of the wall between media planning and creative development. Retail media, powered by first-party data, is increasingly shaping everything from brand discovery to final purchase, pushing marketers to design campaigns around audience insight rather than internal instinct.
AI is also moving from a support tool to a creative engine. Agentic AI, which automates and accelerates production, is expected to make high-quality creative accessible even to small businesses, compressing weeks of work into hours and giving challengers the ability to compete with larger brands on speed and scale.
Behind the scenes, AI-driven analytics will take on a bigger role in campaign optimisation, identifying patterns, spotting opportunities and recommending actions that would previously have required teams of analysts.
Streaming TV is another big battleground. With India’s video streaming audience now above 600 million and connected TV users at 129.2 million in 2025, advertisers are set to treat streaming not just as a branding channel but as a performance engine, measured increasingly by sales, sign-ups and bookings rather than just reach.
Finally, Amazon Ads sees creators and contextual advertising reshaping how brands tell stories. Creators will act less like influencers and more like long-term partners, while scene-aware ads on streaming platforms will allow brands to insert hyper-relevant offers into the flow of what viewers are watching.
Taken together, Amazon Ads argues, these shifts mark a move towards advertising that is both more human and more measurable, where AI handles the complexity, and creativity does the persuading.
