Ad Campaigns
Anushka is ‘Swachh Bharat’ ambassador
MUMBAI: Will highlight issue of open defecation centric on women, joins Amitabh Bachchan in PM Modi’s initiative. It takes a star with maximum reach and impact across India to be chosen as the face of a nationwide health and sanitation campaign
Anushka Sharma has been chosen to be the face of PM Modi’s initiative, the Swach Bharat Abhiyaan along with Bachchan for the same. She is the female ambassador of this massive country wide campaign, and has been picked for her popularity with youth across rural and urban India, particularly women.
The ministry has handpicked Anushka to sharpen and centre their communications towards Indian women, especially those who live in rural and semi rural India. A source adds, “ As per research done extensively by the government, men resist using and building toilets in rural and remote areas but women really want to use these. They are often unable to do so as the men don’t feel the need for it. Consequently, they end up defecating in open spaces like fields and farms which has many risks and dangers for women. Adverse effects of open defecation include spread of disease and safety of women and children. The safety of women is threaten because of going alone to the fields and other places solely because they are unable to use the toilets . Given that Anushka has wide appeal with young audiences and has played inspiring female characters onscreen, the government felt she would resonate with women, and was therefore chosen for the campaign.”
When Anushka heard about this aspect of open defecation, which goes beyond hygiene and health alone, she was appalled. The source explains, “When Anushka found out these details, she was shocked and decided right there and then that she must do this campaign. Centric towards achieving behavorial change in people, especially in motivating women who can take a step and drive men to use toilets, Anushka as a strong opinion influencer is the perfect fit to widen the message. The ministry felt that her influence will help with their outreach greatly and therefore, has chosen her as the face of this campaign. She has shot for two TVCs themed around an anthem like song for the campaign encouraging women to step up against open defecation and for construction of toilets with government initiative.. “
Having ruled the box office the previous year, and with a promising line up of quality films coming up in 2017, Anushka’s consistent performance and commitment to good cinema has made her a household favourite. That she will be endorsing Swachh Bharat campaign validates her huge popularity and she will focus on this campaign with gusto and absolute commitment. The two new TVCs will be worth watching out for.
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.
