Ad Campaigns
HDFC Bank, Firstpost give unique twist to Raksha Bandhan
MUMBAI: HDFC Bank has associated with digital newsroom Firstpost, to make this Rakshabandhan an agent of social change with its #RakshaMatlabRokNahi campaign.
The ad campaign shares a unique take on the cherished Raksha Bandhan ritual. It signifies that the much loved and celebrated sibling festival is not only limited to protecting one’s sister but should also expand to protecting the dreams and aspirations of every woman.
Women’s emancipation is a continuous process of unlearning and rethinking the decisions we are traditionally used to making. To manifest our thoughts into action we just need that small but important nudge to make a difference. This was the key insight which leads to the concept.
In the touching video created by Firstpost Studio, a brother informs his sister that his wife won’t be taking up an excellent career opportunity as it involves travel and wouldn’t be safe. To which the sister patiently explains that protection does not mean setting limits. The stirring message hits the audience when she asks her brother for her Rakhi gift – to protect not only his sister but the dreams and aspirations of every woman he meets.
HDFC Bank CMO Ravi Santhanam says, “We have noticed women get more financially independent than they were and make decisions about their own money. That being said, there still exist social norms which keep some women from being decision makers. We wanted to address this in our video. The #RakshaMatlabRokNahi campaign creatively reinforces HDFC Bank’s core messaging encapsulated in our tag-line – ‘We Understand Your World.’ We are delighted to have found the right partners in Firstpost, who in turn delivered on our expectations for the campaign.”
Network18 Digital business head for English general news cluster Azim Lalani adds, “We are glad to have associated with HDFC Bank to bring an offering that resonates with the audience and effectively drives the message of the brand. Our platform consistently strives to deliver progressive content that deeply connects with the audience, and the team has made a sincere effort to bring that forward with the #RakshaMatlabRokNahi campaign.”
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.
