Ad Campaigns
PHD India rolls out new campaign for Volkswagen Taigun
Mumbai: PHD India has launched a campaign in partnership with evo India magazine, demonstrating the sheer power of the Volkswagen Taigun and highlighting its one-year journey in a way that has never been done before.
To showcase the SUVW’s distinctive characteristics, sturdiness, and perseverance, PHD India and evo conceptualised the “Border Patrol” campaign, which shines a light on its state-of-the-art features and puts its safety and endurance to the test.
The idea behind the campaign involved taking the Taigun on a challenging and thrilling 579-km journey through the unmapped terrain of the Bharatmala Road in the Rajasthan sector, along the borders of Pakistan. From dusk to dawn, the four variants of the Taigun powered through sandy and snowy routes to reach their final destination, setting a national record in the India Book of Records for the longest drive along the Western border and establishing a high performance and safety benchmark for the segment.
Volkswagen head of marketing Abbey Thomas flagged off the epic event, and the evo India team, led by Sirish Chandran, undertook the journey while Team PHD took on the reins of the marketing strategy.
Speaking about the campaign, PHD Media CEO Monaz Todywalla said, “As challenger brands, both Volkswagen and PHD Media share a highly ambitious mindset, and redefining the status quo is in our DNA. It was an exciting opportunity for us to execute a campaign that draws inspiration from this viewpoint and helps Volkswagen create unparalleled experiences unlike any other.”
Adding to this, Omnicom Media Group chief content officer Shailja Saraswati stated, “Milestones are a terrific moment to spark joy, and as celebrations go, nothing speaks volumes like a stand-out immersive experience that draws audiences in. The Border Patrol campaign is an ode to Volkswagen’s journey in India and captures Taigun’s ‘hustle mode’ with evocative storytelling of heroic stories and pizzazz!”
Volkswagen Passenger Cars India head of marketing and PR Abbey Thomas said, “The Volkswagen Taigun is one of our most admired models by virtue of being the first SUVW made with love in India for the Indian market. Our goal is to stay true to our roots and create a slick SUV built on the core DNA of the Volkswagen brand. The hustle that could take on the most challenging terrains in India with ease while delivering the highest level of safety and comfort. To showcase its capabilities and celebrate its first anniversary, we needed to go the extra mile and do something out of the ordinary. Thanks to PHD Media and evo India, we delivered an experience that is off the beaten track and puts the spotlight on the unmatched endurance and performance of the Volkswagen Taigun.”
evo India editor Sirish Chandran said, “Our partnership with Volkswagen and PHD India enabled us to carry out a thrilling campaign that we were glad to be a part of. Having the opportunity to do something we had never done before was an exciting prospect in itself. Undertaking such a challenging but exciting journey and setting a new national record in the process was an experience unlike any other. We knew it was not going to be easy, but the Taigun’s capabilities on the road far exceeded our expectations and made it an unforgettable journey unlike any other.”
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.
