Ad Campaigns
Idea urges people to use social media responsibly in new ad
MUMBAI: Addressing the growing phenomenon of the need for validation on social media, Idea has launched a campaign titled #MeriRealLife, encouraging people to drop the pressure of chasing and sharing perfection on social media, and instead, share real, unfiltered stories using Idea 4G.
The campaign went live yesterday with the first two TVCs breaking on the live matches of Asia Cup Cricket Tournament.
There are over 400 million internet users in India and over 50 per cent are active social media users. Rapid proliferation of 4G has enabled better internet speeds, resulting into Indians now spending almost 28 hours a week on mobile phones. This mammoth increase in consumption of 4G data has been fuelled largely by people sharing and consuming videos and photos on social media.
On an average, people spend anywhere between 2-4 hours/day on social media platforms. With such high engagement, social media is bound to have a huge impact on the lives of people. The new Brand Idea campaign is designed to propagate ‘Responsible Use of Social Media’ with the tagline ‘Perfect ka pressure hatao, Idea 4G ke saath apni real life dikhao’.
Vodafone Idea chief marketing officer Sashi Shankar says, “People are constantly, looking for validation on social media for their behaviour – be it what they are eating or wearing or places they are visiting. The growing phenomenon of living to share on social media and not the other way around, is driving people towards a dual life –a social life and their real life.”
The campaign is developed basis research inputs from mental health professionals from MPOWER, an organisation that aims to end stigma and encourage dialogue around mental health. Insights from research by MPOWER suggest that the constant need for validation leads to a loss of self-worth, a feeling of being ‘not good enough’ resulting in anxiety and related issues, especially amongst the youth actively engaged on social media.
Staying with Brand Idea’s belief in purpose led advertising, this campaign elevates the role of Idea 4G beyond the category conversation to something that reflects its transformative role in people’s lives and society.
The high decibel campaign will lead with a series of three TVCs of 40 and 35 secs duration, capturing the concept through the lens of three people from different walks of life, sharing how their social media lives are different from their real lives.
The Idea ads show people talking about a fancy new car, the perfect look and relationship goals on their social media, while in their real lives they are questioning their own shallow behaviour. The videos end with the characters having their moment of reckoning, where they encourage the world to share their real photos and videos with #MeriRealLife.
The TVCs have been directed by Shimit Amin, the director of critically acclaimed blockbusters such as Chak De, Rocket Singh – Salesman of the year, Ab Tak Chappan.
The new campaign has been developed by BBDO India.
The campaign will be promoted on TV, Radio and Digital through high decibel visibility across 100+ TV Channels and strategic integrations in shows/programs such as Film Companion by Anupama Chopra on Digital, and popular radio shows ‘Heart to Heart with Meera’ and ‘Calling Karan’ on Ishq/Love 104.8 among others.
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.
