Ad Campaigns
Say Namaste to Himalaya Pure Hands Hand Wash and Hand Sanitizer
MUMBAI: The Himalaya Drug Company has brought forth the importance of practicing hand hygiene and sanitation with Himalaya Pure Hands – their latest offering in the germ-protection space.
With extended lockdowns and social distancing, when conventional advertising seems difficult, Himalaya and 82.5 Communications together have created a film that introduces the product to the world. And, it does so, using #ThePurestGreeting – the ancient Indian tradition of Namaste as a form of greeting.
The film is an ode to Namaste, the traditional Indian greeting, which has both spiritual and scientific dimensions to it. A soulful narrative runs through this unique film that has been shot, directed, and edited remotely, spanning across several countries. Over 15 Indian and international DoPs collaborated on this film. With Namaste, the film introduces the exciting range of Pure Hands Hand Wash and PureHands Hand Sanitizer to the world, with a reminder for everyone to ’keep distance but stay social’.
Speaking about the film, The Himalaya Drug Company CEO Philipe Haydon said, “This film captures the beauty, essence, and great wisdom of our Indian greeting, Namaste. Today, as we practice social distancing, the phenomenal knowledge and wisdom of this greeting holds great value in our lives. At Himalaya, we have always been inspired by our rich heritage. We hope that this film spreads love and happiness as well as keeps you all safe. Stay safe, stay healthy. Namaste from our hearts at Himalaya to yours.”
The Himalaya Drug Company business director-consumer products division Rajesh Krishnamurthy added, “Himalaya is a well-known and trusted Wellness brand, and we have always been at the forefront of ensuring the well-being of our consumers. With our Himalaya Pure Hands portfolio of Hand Wash and Hand Sanitizer, we ensure total hand hygiene, the first step to prevent infections. At a time when it’s crucial to practice social distancing in addition to hand hygiene, Namaste is the warmest and best way to greet one another. With this brand film, we wish to highlight Namaste, the beautiful Indian custom of greeting, that has become more relevant today!”
82.5 Communications chairman and CCO Sumanto Chattopadhyay said, “The Namaste is such a beautiful yet practical gesture with so many layers of meaning. It is wonderful to make this film for Pure Hands as a vehicle to spread the message of the Namaste-a message that is all the more meaningful during the pandemic.”
82.5 Communications ECD Mayuer Varma said, “While we are all trying our best to prevent the virus from spreading, we should keep spreading love. And a simple namaste helps us do that.”
The director, Shashank Chaturvedi, was clear he didn’t want to make another montage of user-generated home videos. “This idea deserved a film which was not a ‘usual lockdown film’. Didn’t want it to get lost in the sea of sameness. It had to have some finesse. The challenge was, how to do it? We collaborated with many cinematographers and photographers across the world and asked them to take two shots in their environment with the people they were quarantined with. They were given a mood board so that the shots didn’t lose synergy with each other during the editing stage.”
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.
