MAM
AI Plus calls time on gimmicks with Abhishek Banerjee’s smart turn
MUMBAI: In a world where phones shout louder than they think, AI+ Smartphone has quietly dropped the mic and a national campaign that says smart isn’t smart enough. With its first-ever national TV commercial, AI+ Smartphone isn’t just entering the Indian market, it’s barging in, taking a stand against overhyped specs and underwhelming performance. Featuring Abhishek Banerjee in full deadpan glory, the TVC slices through the noise with a crisp message: “Smart is not enough. It needs to be smart where it counts.”
Set inside a typical mobile store scene equal parts chaos and jargon, the ad shows Banerjee’s character calmly shutting down an overzealous pitch laced with buzzwords and baffling features. In just 30 seconds, the film lays bare the industry’s addiction to gimmicks and asks the only question that really matters: Is your phone working for you, or for your data?
This clarity has found strong resonance particularly among women. According to qualitative research cited by the brand, data privacy concerns were frequently raised unprompted, with users voicing anxiety over surveillance and leaks. AI+ is making this its ground zero: a phone that protects your data without preaching about it.
“For us, privacy isn’t a feature, it’s foundational,” says AI+ Smartphone marketing & communications lead Archi Gogoi. “Consumers today are sharper. They know when they’re being sold to. We’re building trust, not just specs.”
The brand’s national rollout strategy backs this claim with a multilingual media plan across nine Indian languages from Hindi and Tamil to Bengali and Odia. The film, localised for each region, will be seen across TV, OTT, and digital platforms, ensuring the message lands in the language users trust most.
Launching on 8 July 2025, the first AI+ devices AI+ Pulse and AI+ Nova 5G promise a cleaner, simpler, and smarter experience without the noise. No circus of megapixels. No spyware dressed as smart features. Just a phone that gets out of the way and lets you live.
With Banerjee’s dry wit and a sharp swipe at bloated marketing, AI+ isn’t trying to win the loudness war, it’s gunning for the trust deficit. And in today’s crowded, clickbait-heavy smartphone scene, that may just be the smartest move of all.
Brands
UltraTech Cement appoints Jayant Dua as managing director
Dua will succeed K. C. Jhanwar after his term ends in December 2026
MUMBAI: UltraTech Cement, the flagship cement arm of the Aditya Birla Group, has elevated Jayant Dua as managing director, effective 1 April, 2026.
The company’s board also approved his appointment as additional director, managing director and key managerial personnel, effective 1 January, 2027, following the completion of the current managing director K C Jhanwar’s term on 31 December, 2026, according to a regulatory filing.
Dua will serve as managing director for a four-year term from 1 January, 2027 to 31 December, 2030.
A veteran executive with more than 37 years of professional experience, Dua joined the Aditya Birla Group’s cement business in 1996 and spent nearly a decade in various functional and leadership roles.
Over the past two decades, he has held several profit-and-loss and chief executive responsibilities across multiple group businesses, including insulators, insurance, Century Cement and the chlor-alkali segment. In 2023, he was elevated to lead the group’s renewables and textiles businesses.
Within the group, Dua has received several internal honours, including the chairman’s individual award for exceptional contribution in 2002, the outstanding leader award in 2009 and the leader of leaders recognition in 2022.
He holds an engineering degree from Indian Institute of Technology Delhi, an MBA from International Management Institute and has completed the advanced management programme at Harvard Business School.
