Ad Campaigns
cult asks members to ‘do nothing’ this National Lazy day
MUMBAI: In a world that celebrates “rise and grind,” cult is pressing pause, literally. This National Lazy Day, the brand has launched a playful yet purposeful campaign, ‘cult Do Nothing Class’, to spotlight an often-ignored truth in the fitness conversation: real progress needs rest.
The campaign is built on a simple insight that while people are increasingly tracking their workouts, steps and personal bests, far fewer take time to recover. They tend to ignore the fact that recovery is when the body actually repairs, adapts and grows stronger. With the ‘cult Do Nothing Class’, the brand is turning the spotlight on intentional rest, positioning it not as a break from fitness, but as a crucial part of the journey.
The brand film opens inside a cult centre, where members arrive ready for their usual high-energy group workout. Instead, they walk into hammocks, bean bags and trainers in loungewear. No warm-ups, no squats, no burpees. Just breathing, sipping tea, relaxing in massage chairs or quietly unwinding. This is accompanied by cheeky signages like, “We’ve put a hard limit on effort today”, “Shoes off. Rest on” and “Unleash your chill.”
cult head of brand marketing Siva Kumar Pedhapati said: “Fitness today is often linked with action, intensity and achievement. But recovery is equally important. That is where the real growth happens. With this campaign, we wanted to remind people that rest is not laziness, but an essential part of progress. We hope that it encourages individuals to embrace balance in their fitness and wellness journeys.”
The phygital campaign came alive not just online, but in cult centres across Bengaluru, Delhi, Mumbai and Hyderabad. Around 1,000 members in 30 centres took part in the ‘cult Do Nothing’ classes, swapping their regular workouts for light, mindful movement and guided relaxation
This campaign quickly sparked social conversations, gaining momentum online as influencers joined in, lauding cult for challenging the conventional ‘always-on’ fitness narrative and reinforcing the importance of reset and recovery as an essential part of a sustainable fitness journey.
By leaning into the irony of “celebrating” Lazy Day, cult aims to start a larger conversation in India’s always-on culture, especially among urban professionals who live in high-pressure environments, about why rest is as important as repetitions.
“Progress and community are at the heart of cult, and we’ll continue to drive conversations that challenge fitness stereotypes and celebrate movement,” Siva said.
Youtube:
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.
