Ad Campaigns
Combiflam ICYHOT takes on ‘strong pain’ in new campaign by Ogilvy
MUMBAI: Sanofi India – makers of the Combiflam range – has launched the latest ad campaign for its topical analgesic Combiflam ICYHOT. The ad film has been conceptualised by Ogilvy and drives the ‘Strong pain ko do strong jawab’ message of the brand. The campaign will have a 360 degree approach including TV, digital and on-ground activation.
As per the brand, the campaign is a clutter-breaking ad with humorous undertones that is bringing smiles on the face of viewers. The ad film was developed on the insight that pain can weigh one down and can derail one’s day to day life. Effective respite from pain can help people get back on track and move forward.
Sanofi general manager – consumer healthcare, India and South Asia Nikhilesh Kalra said, “We understand how everyday pain affects the quality of life. No matter how much care one takes, physical pain of some sort will find its way to us. Strong pain needs an effective pain relief solution. Combiflam ICYHOT is a topical pain reliever available in gel and spray format for instant and long lasting relief to people suffering from muscle pains and sprains. Given the clutter in the pain segment, our ad is distinctive and hence, memorable, delivering the brand message and the product benefits in an engaging manner.”
Ogilvy group creative director Srreram Athray said, “The Combiflam ICYHOT film is a quirky take on the pain we may suffer in our everyday lives that end up robbing us of vigour. We tried to deliver the brand message in a way that would resonate with most Indians, in a way never tried before within the category.”
Ogilvy group creative director Elizabeth Dias added, “The overall look and feel, personification of the characters – strong pain, icy and hot, the hip music lends a really positive vibe to the film and would surely bring a smile to your face.”
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.
