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Brand ‘Gone Mad’ – Kids stories to commercials
BENGALURU: Karishma Lintas has conceptualised the first ever TV commercial for ‘Gone Mad Choco Sticks‘ from Garuda Foods with a new approach to fun foods. Created especially for kids (7-12 years old), Gone Mad Choco Sticks has been launched in Karnataka and Tamil Nadu in the first phase.
The commercial explores the madness in all its endearing expressions as a deep human motivation, the philosophy that drives the brand Gone Mad – it denies order and says ‘break the normal‘. The TVC takes viewers on Murali‘s journey through friendship, love and endearing madness. Murali, the lucky kid, was hand-picked from one of the schools in Bangalore, while Gone Mad was exploring kids‘ creativity to create doodles to be used for packaging and outdoor advertising.
Garuda Foods executive director G V Krishnan said, “We knew we had to be different, as different as the product and not just for the sake of being different. It‘s not just about the output, we wanted to have a completely different way of going about it. We stared right from naming it Gone Mad! It‘s easy to be mad, but what we were looking for is ‘how can we be mad and yet be loved by kids and mothers alike‘. That‘s a trick only kids know, and so we decided to leave it all to them.”
The packaging was designed with doodles by kids. Karishma Lintas creative director Rajesh Ramaswamy elaborated, “We wanted something original that could only belong to Gone Mad. So we went to over 200 kids across all sections of society, and asked them to draw whatever made them happy. That became our raw material for every form of communication – packaging, print, outdoor, and in-shop.”
The agency then decided to go back to the kids for stories that can be made into television commercials. “And now we have some really imaginative stories that we could never ever have thought of! It‘s funny that we do nothing on this brand and let the kids do all the work. And make sure that we keep it as raw as possible, without colouring and killing it with logic,” commented Ramaswamy.
The TVC went on air on 17 March. It was produced by the production house Eeksaurus Productions and directed by E Suresh.
MAM
Time brings TIME100 Next franchise to India with Reliance
List to spotlight 100 emerging leaders, gala set for December 2026 in Mumbai.
MUMBAI: It’s about time India’s next wave got a global spotlight and now, it’s on the list. New York-headquartered Time is expanding its TIME100 Next franchise to India, partnering with Reliance Industries Limited to launch TIME100 Next India, its first international extension of the rising leaders platform. The announcement was made at the Time100 Gala in New York by Jessica Sibley and Nita Mukesh Ambani, signalling a strategic push to tap into India’s growing influence across sectors.
The India edition will recognise 100 emerging leaders from the country and the global Indian diaspora, spanning business, science, sports, arts and social impact. The list will be curated by Time’s editorial team and published online, continuing the franchise’s focus on identifying individuals shaping the future.
The initiative will culminate in a gala event scheduled for December 2026 at the Nita Mukesh Ambani Cultural Centre, anchoring the platform within India’s cultural and business ecosystem.
TIME’s broader Time100 franchise has steadily expanded its global footprint since 2021 through events and impact-led initiatives. Executives noted that India’s growing pool of influential voices and innovators made it a natural next step for the platform’s international ambitions.
For Reliance, the partnership aligns with its broader push to support emerging talent and ideas on a global stage. For Time, it marks a timely bet on India not just as a market, but as a talent engine shaping the next chapter of global leadership.
