Ad Campaigns
ESP Properties ties in Vodafone U with Rock On 2
MUMBAI: ESP Properties (Entertainment Sports Partnership), the entertainment, sports and content arm of GroupM, have facilitated the integration with Vodafone U for the newly released, Rock On 2. In a unique tie-in, Vodafone U is utilizing the association to promote its recently launched segmented youth proposition —Vodafone U and conceptualized #JoinTheBand campaign with Rock On 2. The brand used the association with Rock On 2 through live concerts and meet & greets to create a holistic association and integration.
Talking about the association ESP Properties senior business head Aastha Jain said, “Rock On 2 is a film about friends and music, that’s exactly what resonates with the youth. Vodafone U is the brand offering targeted primarily to the youth and hence the association seemed perfect fit. The Vodafone and Rock On 2 association is unique in a manner beyond the conventional integrations which are well thought of and executed and will hit the right chords with the consumers as well as viewers.”
Vodafone India national brand head Siddharth Banerjee added, “Music is the key passion point of Indian youth and Vodafone U is targeted at that set! With this integration, we not only attract and engage our core audiences but also communicate our brand story and proposition effectively! We are happy to work with ESP who understand, execute and ideate through the brand lens”
Excel Entertainment marketing head Vishal Ramchandani explained, “We made sure that we aligned with Vodafone in a way that benefits and creates a win-win situation for both, the movie and the brand. Rock On 2’s association with Vodafone is rather a natural alliance. We are pleased that India’s leading telecom service provider Vodafone and Rock On 2 have come together to spread its Magik to millions of consumers and grateful to ESP for stitching this through so seamlessly.”
Ad Campaigns
Amazon Ads maps 2026 as AI and streaming rewrite ad playbooks
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.







