Ad Campaigns
Kotak 811’s initiative of inclusiveness on digital gets support
MUMBAI: The #IndiaInvited campaign by Kotak 811 builds on the insight of inclusiveness for everyone irrespective of personal or physical characteristics and draws attention to how 811, just like a bench, does not discriminate against anyone and the messaging was led by the Bollywood Superstar Ranveer Singh.
The campaign, conceptualised and executed by Tonic Worldwide, extended an invitation to all Indians to be a part of the movement through various innovations.
The digital campaign showcases the real stories of people who have faced discrimination in the face of opportunity. Later, every Indian who wanted to support the cause, got a chance to participate by sharing the frame with Ranveer Singh using a custom-made Kotak 811 AR filter. The idea was to use technology on one of the most popular social media platforms and simplify participation for users.
In the next phase, people were invited to share their perspectives of how they could take inspiration of non-discrimination by emulating the Bench in the story ‘Bench Ki Aatmakatha’. From poems to rap songs, shayaris to mini stories, the 500+ video entries that featured on the brand’s page were both interesting and humorous, while being aligned to the brand campaign.
The contest was judged by the famous stand-up comedians- Sourabh Pant and Sonali Thakker.
The Bench of Unity is a community formed by over 2.5 lakh Indians in the digital space who believe that they can be the change the society needs to put an end to the judgemental attitude. Invitations were sent out to people who have created a unique identity for themselves by achieving great feats, despite facing discrimination and judgments from the society. Bharti Singh and Geeta Phogat were also a part of the initiative and became members of the Bench of Unity.
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.
