Ad Campaigns
ESAF Small Finance Bank undertakes heartfelt ‘Clap Of Joy’ campaign
Mumbai: ESAF Small Finance Bank, the new-age bank, has launched an emotional and innovative ‘Clap of Joy’ campaign to celebrate its anniversary. This unique campaign, envisioned by the brand, had an 8-member crew set out on a journey in a themed vehicle.
The intention was to gauge the emotion that ESAF, as a brand, stood for. The result was two emotional and powerful films that reflected the impact made on different communities and customer segments of ESAF. The campaign covered the organisation’s achievements over the past seven years.
From the vibrant streets of Mumbai to the humble dwellings and bustling markets of Kolkata, each leg of the journey added a new chapter to the story and offered fresh perspectives. The impact was clearly evident from the feedback of the customers. Travelling over 11,000 kilometres across the heart of India, amidst the richness of its culture, was truly memorable for the participants. There was curiosity, and they captured attention wherever they went.
Small Finance Bank EVP-HR, ESAF George Thomas expressed his enthusiasm and said, “As a social bank, we believe in upholding society as a whole. Therefore, we decided to gather perspectives from both customers and beneficiaries. The campaign name ‘Clap of Joy’ resonated well with the experiences of our customers and well-wishers.” Speaking about the campaign, Sony V. Mathew, VP, head of branding & communication, said, “Clap of Joy was an initiative aimed at closely interacting with our customers and measuring their experience. We visited customers across different segments and gathered valuable feedback. The insights derived from this led to the creation of the ‘Clap of Joy’ campaign, which was planned as part of our anniversary celebrations. The attention garnered by the branded vehicle was invaluable, significantly contributing to brand awareness, particularly in regions where our presence is more sporadic.”
“The world was an open canvas for us. It was an opportunity to paint or absorb natural wisdom through both minds and lenses. The output now speaks for our efforts,” Sony V. Mathew added. “As a filmmaker, the challenge was to find a universal idiom to communicate the success story of ESAF across the infinitely diverse nation that India is. Clap was the perfect answer, and filming the sheer joy of the clap was indeed a thing of beauty,” said the ad film director, Rajesh K. Abraham.
From humble beginnings, ESAF Small Finance Bank has achieved numerous milestones through its commitment to providing financial support to unserved and underserved communities. This journey officially began seven years ago, on 17 March 2017. The Bank’s achievements testify to its efforts to empower people across various strata of society through unbridled dedication and exemplary service. Recognised by several national and international organisations, the Bank’s legacy validates its adherence to the 3 Ps of ‘People, Planet, and Prosperity.’
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.
