Ad Campaigns
Asian Paints launches campaign for durga puja
MUMBAI: Way back in 1985, Asian Paints started supporting Durga Puja in Kolkata as it gave them an opportunity to connect with the audience of Kolkata at an emotional level.
It was done under the banner of ‘Asian Paints Sharad Shamman’, which over years has grown in terms of its stature and scale. Over the years, while felicitating 3 best pujas of the year, they now also felicitate one pandal each for Discovery of the Year (Bauchorer Bismoy), Innovative Excellence (Nobo Nakshi), and Best Idol Maker (Best Pratima Shilpi).
Today, it is the most coveted award that Durga Puja clubs and committees vie for in Kolkata that brings in glory for their neighbourhood and a sense of pride by this felicitation.
While over years, Asian Paints Sharad Shamman has been connecting with the people in Kolkata through the on-ground activity and media support, the challenge now is different. How do we connect with the Bengali youth, who are spread far and wide, make the importance of Durga Puja relevant to them.
This campaign brought in one of the most popular Bengali music bands, Lakkhichhara, to create a song that would capture the entire mythology and celebration of Durga Puja in their own unique style. To enrich this content piece further, many more art forms like Baul singing, Pattachitra, etc. were brought together to create an output that is both very captivating to listen to and watch.
This main music video launch has been supported by a set of pre-launch and post-launch videos that have kept the conversation rolling daily, and simultaneously, heightened the audience’s interest level high.
Asian Paints GM for brands Jaideep Kanse mentions, “Asian Paints has always believed in celebrating creativity and art. It was with this intent that Asian Paints Sharad Shamman was initiated and now over 34 years of this we feel the love and respect of the people every time we are in Kolkata during Pujo. We are extremely proud to associate with Lakkhichara and bring out a fusion song that mixes traditional art forms like Pattachitra and Baul along with regional rock, truly #DurgaPujoRocks.”
Ogilvy Mumbai group creative head George Kovoor says, “#DurgaPujoRocks is a unique form of storytelling, combining traditional performing arts with modern rock music to create a piece of content that engages a generation of youth who are getting detached from the traditions and rituals of Durga Pujo. They are going to see Pujo in a way they have never seen before.”
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.”
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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.
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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.
