Brands
Star India jointly wins client of the year Effie with Hindustan Unilever
MUMBAI: It's added another feather to its cap. And not very surprisingly it's for brand and media effectiveness. Star India has trumped the Advertising Club Mumbai's coveted Effie client of the year Award for 2020. It bagged this honour jointly with the marketing behemoth Hindustan Unilever Ltd (HUL).
The Advertising Club's EFFIE Awards for 2020 were hosted at Mumbai's Taj Lands Hotel last evening and were presented by Colors. The awards, which have become a benchmark of effectiveness and breakthrough brand and media strategies, also saw both McCann Worldgroup India and Ogilvy Group being annointed jointly with the agency of the year title. The Grand EFFIE was sweetly pocketed by EightyTwo Point Five Communications for its Bisleri Packaged Drinking Water – “Samajhdar Jante hai" campaign.
Said the Advertising Club president Partho Dasgupta : “I would first like to congratulate all the winners of the awards. Winning an EFFIE has always been a matter of great pride for every marketer and each of the winners are truly deserving of this recognition. EFFIE India Awards 2020 continues to be the highest honor in innovation and effectiveness and with this award we continue to be committed towards recognizing and rewarding thought leadership showcased by brands and advertisers.”
Added EFFIEs chairperson Mitrajit Bhattacharya: “Like every year, this year to we saw some of the best and game changing work being entered for the awards. The superior quality of work has led to the marquee award categories like client of the year and the agency of the year for the first time in the history of the EFFIE’s being won by not one by two winners each. We are sure that the continuous evolution of the awards to reflect the changing media landscape by adding new and relevant categories will ensure that the awards continue to stay relevant and highly coveted.”
Brands
MS Dhoni joins Cars24’s Crashfree India as Goodwill Ambassador
Cricketing legend lends his voice to the fight against road fatalities in India.
MUMBAI: MS Dhoni has traded his cricket whites for a new kind of captaincy, one that aims to save lives on India’s roads. The former India captain has been appointed Goodwill Ambassador for Crashfree India, Cars24’s national road safety initiative. The move brings one of the country’s most trusted and disciplined public figures to a cause that desperately needs both credibility and urgency.
India continues to record the highest number of traffic fatalities globally. In 2024 alone, 1,80,000 people lost their lives on Indian roads, one every three minutes. The country has roughly 1% of the world’s vehicles but accounts for 11 per cent of global road deaths. Shockingly, 66 per cent of those killed were between 18 and 34 years old, the most productive age group, and nearly 10,000 were school students. Seven in ten fatalities were linked to overspeeding.
Dhoni, known for his calm judgment under pressure, did not mince words when speaking about the issue. “A vehicle gives you freedom, but it also gives you responsibility,” he said. “On our roads, too many people still see safety as a rule to follow only when someone is watching. That mindset has cost us far too much.”
He added: “We already know what is going wrong. We know how many lives are being lost. What we need now is not more excuses. We need more responsibility, more discipline, and more respect for life.”
For Cars24, the association goes beyond a celebrity endorsement. Founder and CEO Vikram Chopra described Dhoni’s involvement as a game-changer: “His understanding of Indian roads is grounded in lived experience. He holds us to a higher standard and his involvement challenges us to push this mission further.”
Crashfree India aims to shift the national conversation on road safety from reaction to prevention, from accepting deaths as routine to treating them as the urgent failure they are. With Dhoni on board, the initiative gains a powerful, trusted voice that transcends statistics and connects directly with millions of Indians.
In a country where dangerous driving is too often mistaken for confidence, Dhoni’s message is refreshingly clear: true strength lies in control, discipline, and respect for life. When one of India’s most respected captains decides to lead this fight, the conversation suddenly becomes much harder to ignore.
The roads just got a new captain. And this time, the goal is not to win a trophy but to save lives.
