Ad Campaigns
McDonald’s India announces NTR Jr as its brand ambassador
Mumbai: Adding another degree of excitement to its signature McSpicy Fried Chicken range, McDonald’s India (West and South), has taken a power-packed leap by signing the Young Tiger of Tollywood, NTR Jr as its brand ambassador, who recently made the entire world dance to the tune of Oscar-winning ‘Naatu-Naatu’. The brand has launched an action-packed TV commercial conceptualized by DDB Mudra, featuring the mass super star wherein he is seen driving the message #DontExplainJustShare in his quintessential cheeky style.
The brand has reimagined the offering of its marquee chicken range – McSpicy Fried Chicken by introducing the ‘McSpicy Chicken Sharers’ in first-time ever sharing buckets. The brand film highlights this proposition of ‘just sharing’ the McSpicy Chicken with everyone without any need for explanation, as the delectable spicy flavour must be experienced by all.
This latest TV commercial features a delightful surprise with the actor in a playful and whimsical setting. With a touch of magic and a cheeky remark, NTR Jr perfectly captures the essence of the #DontExplainJustShare theme of the new offerings. In the TVC, he is seen tinkering with the moon charismatically to make sure his favorite McDonald’s store remains open so that he can keep devouring the McDonald’s McSpicy Chicken sharers with his friends.
McDonald’s India (West and South) CMO Arvind R.P said, “We are ecstatic to have NTR Jr join the McDonald’s India family as our brand ambassador. His incredible on-screen presence, charismatic personality, and relatability among the youth and families complement our vibrant brand and this new offering very well. We look forward to captivating our fans with our latest campaign that spotlights the joy of sharing our delicious McSpicy Fried Chicken with friends and family.”
NTR Jr said, “I’m happy to join McDonalds’s (W&S) as their brand ambassador for McSpicy Chicken Sharers! It is an iconic brand that resonates with millions of people across the world, and to be a part of this journey feels amazing. I have always believed in collaborating and sharing, and the McSpicy Chicken Sharers speaks volumes about this spirit – #DontExplainDontShare.”
DDB CCO & executive director Rahul Mathew added, “In NTR Jr we have an icon who has changed how the world sees Indian cinema. And with McSpicy Chicken Sharers we’ve changed the way the consumer looks at fried chicken. We wanted to make sure that NTR Jr’s inimitable style comes through in our communication.”
Customers from the South can now treat themselves and their loved ones to the crispy coated chicken marinated in unique flavourful spice with McSpicy Chicken Sharer buckets. In keeping with its belief of ‘Real Food, Real Good,’ McDonald’s India is committed to providing its customers with high-quality food made from real ingredients. The McSpicy Chicken Sharers offers a bucket of scrumptious bone-in chicken that has no artificial colours, no artificial flaours, and no added MSG. McSpicy Chicken Sharers is available at McDonald’s India restaurants in South India for dine-in and drive-thru and on the McDelivery app for delivery, takeaway, and on-the-go consumption.
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.
