Ad Campaigns
Gulf Oil India teams up with Smriti Mandhana to launch new Ad campaign
Mumbai: Gulf Oil Lubricants India Ltd, a leading Indian lubricant manufacturer, launched a campaign for their product Gulf Pride Scooter Plus engine oil, featuring cricketing sensation Smriti Mandhana. This campaign seeks to effectively promote the product while also portraying Gulf as a brand with a human touch, addressing real-life consumer needs with a touch of humor.
At the heart of the campaign lies the enticing value proposition of ‘Insta Zoom’ offered by Gulf Pride Scooter Plus. Gulf has astutely recognized the need for speed and efficiency in our fast-paced lives, resonating with a wide audience and making the product proposition instantly relatable. Mandhana’s popularity, her girl-next-door persona, and her influence cut across demographics, allows Gulf to reach a diverse audience. Her association with the campaign not only lends credibility but also adds a personal touch that resonates with consumers.
Gulf Oil Lubricants marketing head Amit Gheji shared his perspective on this campaign, stating, “The campaign highlights Gulf Oil India’s unwavering commitment to delivering superlative products and experiences to our valued customers. This campaign serves as a testament to our capacity to comprehend and address tangible consumer needs while ensuring the content remains engaging and relatable. We take pride in our collaboration with Smriti Mandhana, leveraging her immense star power to connect with a diverse audience.”
Gulf engaged influencers in the pre-launch phase to generate significant buzz. The placement of influencers holding placards with the question, “Smriti aapka scooter milega kya?” not only piqued curiosity but also created a sense of anticipation among the audience. This approach humanised the campaign and engaged potential customers in a relatable manner.
The campaign’s film highlights Gulf as a brand that comprehends and addresses real-life issues, a quality that deeply connects with consumers. The incorporation of humor added a touch of familiarity and engagement, making the campaign endearing and memorable.
This campaign for Gulf Pride Scooter Plus is a seamless fusion of a compelling value proposition with the star power of Smriti Mandhana which enabled Gulf to capture the hearts and minds of a diverse and discerning audience. With this campaign, Gulf not only showcased Pride Scooter Plus but also solidified its position as a brand that comprehends and addresses real-world needs with a distinctly human touch.
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.
