Ad Campaigns
Relaxo Flite & L&K Saatchi & Saatchi launches ‘Sar Utha Kadam Badha’ campaign
Mumbai: The success of any ad campaign is often judged by the second in the series. If this measure is true, the second Sar Utha Kadam Badha film for Flite Footwear is poised to take the brand to a new high.
Created by Law & Kenneth Saatchi and Saatchi, the film builds on the task set by the first film- to reposition the brand in the minds of consumers and connect with them at an emotional level. Having successfully steered the brand from celebrity infested waters in the category, the new film also works around the core insight that each one of us has the right to dream and dream BIG. People’s opinions, judgments or beliefs should not stop anyone from pursuing their dreams and neither should geography and language. Flite celebrates this resolve to move forward and upwards through ‘Sar Utha Kadam Badha’.
This time however the campaign goes a step further to tell the story from an even more ‘real’ lens. An authentic story of screenplay writer Varun Grover’s journey from a small town boy in Benaras to struggling writer in Mumbai before his eventual success and National Award. With the ‘real people’, ‘real success stories’ approach, the new film shows us that sometimes truth is more engaging than fiction and certainly more inspiring.
Sharing his views on the campaign, Relaxo Footwears Ltd. executive director (sales & marketing) Gaurav Dua said, “With this campaign brand Flite captures the emotional roller coaster of one embarking upon the path less travelled and the grind and rejections that come along the way. The ‘Sar Utha, Kadam Badha’ campaign celebrates the journey of an individual who, undaunted by the naysayers, works his way to become someone as acclaimed and beloved as Varun Grover. Brand Flite salutes the spirit of the achiever, who dares to dream and work his way towards success.”
Speaking on the campaign, L&K Saatchi & Saatchi CEO Paritosh Srivastava said, “Flite has always been a trusted partner in the lives of our customers and has been the market leader by that virtue. ‘Sar Utha Kadam Badha’ was born two years back with the objective to create brand love, stature and respect for Flite. The first campaign achieved that to a great extent. It’s always tough to follow a hit in the first act. We are quite thrilled that this campaign takes ‘Sar Utha Kadam Badha’ to another level. The fact that it’s inspired from the real story of Varun Grover will significantly strengthen our positioning and establish a deeper emotional connection with our audience.”
Commenting on the new film, LKSS joint NCD Rohit Malkani said, “The toughest part of a successful continuing campaign is the pressure to go one up on the previous one! But this has been a long and exciting journey. Whether it be shifting gears to real life or scouring the web for inspiring stories to tell, it’s been a huge learning. Above all, we’ve enjoyed lifting the story telling to a cinematic level this time.”
The film has gone live and will span all crucial platforms comprising television, print, radio, outdoor and digital.
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.
