Ad Campaigns
Brooke Bond Red Label, Star Sports join cricket stalwarts after 22 years
MUMBAI: The India versus Pakistan match in 1996, a knockout clash, had all the makings of a classic. Pakistan opener Aamer Sohail had hammered Venkatesh Prasad for four to the square boundary and brashly signaled the bowler to fetch the ball. The two legends were back to bond after 22 years and melt their differences over a cup of Brooke Bond Red Label tea, and the event was broadcast live on Star Sports on 19 September 2018.
Minshare Fulcrum South Asia SVP Premjeet Sodhi said, “The idea of getting the two stalwarts from the two most rivalrous cricketing nations of the world to sit down relive and probably share a laugh over a cup of tea made for a great initiative for Red Label tea, a brand that has always stood for breaking barriers.”
Mindshare Fulcrum Content+ VP Ajay Mehta said, “No one has seen Aamer Sohail and Venkatesh Prasad together after that electrifying match of 1996. To get them back after 22 years and that too in a live match between India and Pakistan, reliving the moment, this time over a different cup is sweet… isn’t it?”
Hindustan Unilever VP tea and foods Shiva Krishnamurthy said, “Brooke Bond Red Label’s purpose is to help people find common ground over a cup of tea. The India-Pakistan Asia Cup match is the perfect occasion for Venkatesh Prasad and Aamer Sohail to come together over a tasty cup of Brooke Bond Red Label and chat about their epic exchange at the 1996 World Cup Quarter Final.”
Teaser: https://www.facebook.com/RedLabelChai/videos/334339387111350/?__xts__[0]=68.ARAeCqwrRJrgqjdhiTmjJtx_WQK9B4sp2yd_soEzCH3N2pDDIdhtUybWEJYASu21lwyX6Op12wZnHEVuQcl6Sn9hoIzBOYWZRkfWk8hpbfnaNWzvFxEaFOJwr_HJpLAWRiMf8YmXT-qsuK2-u1DDtCOyZuDeYyOgbqLrbC7b69KaD2Q6m3yn&__tn__=-R
Segment: https://www.facebook.com/starsportsindia/videos/530760327346384/?hc_ref=ARS_547lInXoW_q9X-p0UdIpcD76s45sXWM4arZq20BF19pFScxr5a-NMjtRsSFdoKU
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.
