Brands
Indian brands turn heads and hearts at Kantar’s ad-effectiveness awards
MUMBAI: Culture met creativity head-on, and Indian brands walked away with the spoils. Danone, Hindustan Unilever, Haleon and Godrej Consumer Products were among the big winners at Kantar India’s Creative Effectiveness Awards, which celebrated five years of ads that hit both hearts and wallets.
With more than 1,350 Indian creatives tested in 2024—out of 12,000 globally—the winners were chosen not by agency suits, but by the toughest (and truest) critics: everyday consumers. Think festival rituals, everyday mishaps, Bollywood throwbacks and even snarky political satire. The kind of stuff that makes you nod, laugh or text your mum.
HUL took home the crown across TV and digital. Meanwhile, Godrej Fab tickled funny bones with its satirical punch, Pond’s struck a Bollywood chord, and Nihar shaved off grooming clichés with flair.
To mark the fifth anniversary of the awards, Kantar unveiled a snappy new mantra—distilled from half a decade of tracking India’s most powerful campaigns. Turns out, the most effective ads haven’t lost the plot: culture still sells, and creativity still seals the deal.
The report’s insights are as spicy as a masala chai:
● Culture is comfort food: Great Indian ads are like dal—with a creative tadka. They’re emotional, familiar, and loaded with meaning.
● Tiny moments, big memories: It’s not grand gestures but the small stuff—rainy train stations, puja rituals, awkward family dinners—that truly lands.
● Multilingual magic: Language may vary, but emotion doesn’t. The most effective brands ditched the Hindi-only formula for regionally rooted storytelling.
● Execution eats strategy for breakfast: Music, humour, idioms, casting—get them right, and you’ve got a winner.
Influencer-driven content, says Kantar, isn’t just noise—it holds eyeballs 2.2 times longer than standard ads, and delivers a 58 per cent average salience score. That’s gold in today’s skip-happy world.
In India, you don’t invent culture—you tune into it, add some flavour, and serve it up with feeling. That’s how brands go from ads to icons.
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Brands
Angel One Q4 profit surges 83 per cent to Rs 320cr
year net profit dips 22 per cent to Rs 915cr as revenue softens slightly to Rs 5,137cr.
MUMBAI: Angel One has just earned its wings in style delivering a blockbuster Q4 that proves the brokerage giant is still flying high even in a cautious market. Standalone revenue from operations for the three months ended 31 March 2026 rose sharply to Rs 1,459cr, up from Rs 1,056cr a year ago. Total income stood at Rs 1,467cr. After all expenses, profit before tax came in at Rs 440cr, while net profit for the quarter surged 83 per cent to Rs 320cr (versus Rs 175cr last year). Basic EPS stood at Rs 3.52 and diluted at Rs 3.44.
For the full year ended 31 March 2026, revenue from operations was Rs 5,137cr compared with Rs 5,238cr in FY25. Total income reached Rs 5,152cr. Profit before tax was Rs 1,272cr, and net profit came in at Rs 915cr (down from Rs 1,172cr). Basic EPS was Rs 10.09 (from Rs 13.00) and diluted Rs 9.85 (from Rs 12.68).
Total comprehensive income for the quarter stood at Rs 321cr, while the full-year figure was Rs 913cr.
The strong quarterly performance reflects robust growth in interest income (Rs 455cr) and fees & commission (Rs 1,000cr), even as the full-year numbers moderated amid a softer overall environment. Finance costs rose to Rs 134cr in Q4 (full year Rs 437cr), while employee benefits stood at Rs 244cr for the quarter (full year Rs 1,067cr).
In a year when many brokers felt the pinch of muted market activity, Angel One has delivered a sparkling Q4 that shows its core broking engine is firing on all cylinders. With the books now closed on FY26, the Mumbai-based player has once again demonstrated that consistent execution and a sharp focus on retail participation continue to pay rich dividends in India’s booming capital markets.
