Ad Campaigns
AbhiBus comes up with a refreshing new ad campaign
Mumbai: AbhiBus, an online bus-ticketing platform in India, has launched an exciting new ad campaign featuring Tollywood Superstar Mahesh Babu and the king of comedy Rajendra Prasad. Set to kick off this summer, the campaign will feature the magical duo of Mahesh Babu and Rajendra Prasad in a series of ads set to launch across different festival seasons throughout the year. The new ad campaign has been directed by none other than Anil Ravipudi of F2 and Sarileru Neekevvaru fame. The ad highlights the last-minute booking that AbhiBus offers to millions of travelers across India. Whether it’s a short trip or a long journey, AbhiBus remains the preferred choice for hassle-free bus bookings.
The ads will be launched across TV and digital platforms. The first TVC, released today, features a lively banter between a playful uncle and his nephew. The advertisement starts with Babai (Rajendra Prasad) preparing for his exam; Abhi (Mahesh Babu) enters the room and asks what he is doing. Babai responds that he has promised Kanakam that he will top the exam. Abhi, seeing nothing he can do and not wanting to engage further, tries to leave. Babai then asks Abhi to go for a trip to Tirupati, thus leading to a comical turn of events that results in the duo embarking on a last-minute bus journey to Tirupathi, showcasing the fast and seamless booking process of AbhiBus.
The idea was to design a campaign matching AbhiBus’ energetic and vibrant brand image. The brand decided to team up with Rajendra Prasad and Mahesh Babu, as the dynamic duo are known for their on-screen chemistry and comedic timing. With a focus on incorporating humor and relatability, the ads will feature funny interactions and playful banter between the two actors.
AbhiBus (ixigo bus business) CEO Rohit Sharma shared his excitement about the launch of the campaign, stating, “We are thrilled to collaborate with the iconic Mahesh Babu who has been a long-standing brand ambassador of AbhiBus for the past eight years, and the immensely talented Rajendra Prasad for our new brand campaign. While RP is a legend with close to 50 years in the film industry, Mahesh is a household name and a star. The duo has created magic on screens every time they have appeared together and it is this chemistry and humorous energy that we have drawn on in our upcoming series of ads. Their immense popularity and relatability make them perfect ambassadors to convey our message of celebrating travel and togetherness with your loved ones. Through this campaign, we aim to connect with our audience on a deeper level and reinforce our commitment to providing seamless and joyful travel experiences.”
Speaking on the occasion Tollywood superstar Mahesh Babu said, “As an actor, I’ve always admired brands that consistently uphold their promise of delivering quality and ensuring customer satisfaction. AbhiBus stands out as one such brand with which I’ve been associated for the past eight years. Their commitment to offering seamless travel experiences and dependable bus services is truly commendable. It has been a pleasure to align myself with a brand that demonstrates consistency and reliability in their services, and I eagerly anticipate the continuation of this partnership for many more years ahead.”
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.
