Ad Campaigns
‘Life: Spend it Well,’ recommends M&S’s new campaign
MUMBAI: British retailer Marks & Spencer has announced the launch of its new brand proposition in India: ‘Life. Spend it Well’.
More than just a tagline, ‘Life. Spend it Well’ is an attitude – designed to inspire and enable people to make every moment special by focusing on the quality experiences, people and things that really matter. The new advertising campaign will sit across all digital channels, in-store and all Marks & Spencer marketing communications in India moving forward.
‘Life. Spend it Well’ is based on the insight that, people increasingly seek out what is important: the quality experiences, people and things that make life special. Marks & Spencer exists to help its customers make the most out of every moment and every minute. ‘Life. Spend it Well’ is about grabbing life, wearing your best coat, and, yes, never settling for uncomfortable knickers.
The bold advert takes customers on a journey from cradle to graceful (or not-so-graceful) empowerment, reminding every woman and every generation that life is short, so spend it well. A series of uplifting vignettes featuring women of all ages celebrate the power of everyday choices. These choices range from the practical to the emotional, with viewers urged to say no to regrets and no to comparing yourself to others.
The launch of this campaign introduces an inspirational tone of voice for the brand, and focuses on attitude and empowerment. It represents a commitment to putting the consumer at the heart of everything it does – positioning Marks & Spencer as enabler of a life well-lived – and includes a significant focus on customer experience.
The new advertising campaign is the first from Valenstein & Fatt (the creative agency formerly known as Grey London). The advert was directed by François Rousselet through Riff Raff Films, and, fittingly, set against a new arrangement of David Bowie’s classic Rebel Rebel.
Patrick Bousquet-Chavanne, Marks & Spencer’s Executive Director of Customer, Marketing & M&S.com said: “Our ‘Life. Spend it Well’ campaign in India is a radical departure from where we’ve been previously. It speaks to deep truths about our customers and celebrates their lives in a way which is new and innovative for the brand. To remain relevant and attract new customers, we need to get people thinking differently about Marks & Spencer and recapture our position as a pioneer in culture.
“That’s why the energy, swagger and spirit of ‘Life. Spend it Well’ is so important – it’s about empowering our customers to say no to the ordinary, so you can say yes to the best. We’re committed to helping our customers spend their lives well by understanding what clothing fits and flatters today’s modern woman, and by ensuring this philosophy is applied across the entire customer experience.”
The new advert is part of an integrated campaign in India including social media, digital, press, outdoor, in-mall and in-store activation.
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.
