Brands
Sunfeast Mom’s Magic unwraps the love of adoption with heartfelt campaign
MUMBAI: ITC’s Sunfeast Mom’s Magic has baked more than just cookies, it’s baked a powerful message. The brand, long known for celebrating the warmth of motherhood, is now stirring hearts with its latest initiative to normalise and encourage adoption in India.
Stirring the pot on outdated norms, the brand teamed up with the upcoming film Dear Maa to host a compelling panel discussion in Kolkata. On the table? Breaking down biases around adoptive mothers and pushing the belief that motherhood is measured in love, not DNA.
The panel featured a stellar line-up: Soumeta Medhora, secretary of ISSA; actor Mandira Bedi; Shuvadip Banerjee, chief digital marketing officer, ITC Foods; director Aniruddha Roy Chowdhury; and actor Jaya Ahsan, the face of Dear Maa. The group delved into the hurdles adoptive mothers face from social prejudice to emotional alienation, while urging society to widen its definition of family.
At the heart of the event was the launch of Dil Se Maa, a stirring poem that pays tribute to adoptive mothers. The piece reimagines motherhood as a bond built on care, not chromosomes.
Adding a deeply personal note to the discussion, actress Mandira Bedi shared, “Adoption is a beautiful and transformative choice, one that is driven entirely by love. As Tara’s mother, I’ve faced my share of questions and societal bias — from being asked if I could love an adopted child as my own, to people assuming adoption is a last resort. But love doesn’t come with conditions. That’s why I truly value what brands like Mom’s Magic are doing — creating space for these conversations and helping society move beyond its outdated stereotypes, so that every child is embraced with a mother’s love.”
Speaking on the occasion, ITC – Foods Division, chief digital marketing officer, Shuvadip Banerjee said, “At Mom’s Magic, we have always believed in celebrating the extraordinary power of a mother’s love. Through this meaningful collaboration with the film Dear Maa, we aim to spark important conversations around adoption and stand in solidarity with all mothers who create magic in a child’s life—regardless of how that treasured journey begins. Together, we hope to inspire greater acceptance, empathy, and inclusion for every form of motherhood.”
Sunfeast Mom’s Magic has consistently flexed its emotional muscle with campaigns like No More Missed Calls and Hug Her More. This new chapter is another notch in its belt of purpose-driven storytelling, one that swaps sugar for soul and biscuits for bold ideas.
Brands
Uber launches hotel bookings feature in partnership with Expedia
From hotel bookings to room service at your door, the ride-hailing giant is making its boldest push yet into everyday life
CALIFORNIA: Uber is done being just a taxi app. At its annual GO-GET product event, the world’s leading mobility and delivery platform unveiled a sweeping set of new features designed to plant itself at the centre of how people travel, eat and shop, hotel bookings included.
The headline move is a partnership with Expedia Group that lets Uber users in the United States book hotels directly within the Uber app, with access to a catalogue that will eventually grow to more than 700,000 properties worldwide. Uber One members get 10 per cent back in Uber One credits on all hotel bookings and savings of at least 20 per cent on a rolling list of more than 10,000 hotels globally. Vacation rentals from Vrbo, Expedia Group’s home-rental brand, will be added later this year. The partnership is expected to expand beyond the United States. From June, Uber rides will also be integrated directly into the Expedia app, with push notifications sent to travellers ahead of hotel check-in to book discounted Uber rides for the duration of their stay.
Dara Khosrowshahi, chief executive of Uber, framed the expansion in terms of the modern condition. “Uber is becoming an app for everything, helping people go, get, and now travel all in one place,” he said. “We’re all living through a moment of real cognitive overload: too many apps, too many decisions, too much noise. At the end of the day, our job is to help people reclaim their time, spending less of it managing the logistics of life and more of it actually living.”
Ariane Gorin, chief executive of Expedia Group, struck a similarly ambitious note. “Travel should feel effortless, and this partnership gets us one step closer to offering a seamless traveller experience,” she said. “By connecting our two-sided marketplace with Uber, we’re bringing Uber rides directly into the Expedia app and Expedia Group’s lodging inventory into the Uber app through our Rapid API technology. Together, we’re helping travellers spend less time planning and more time enjoying the journey.”
Beyond hotels, the product announcements come thick and fast. Travel Mode, available within both the Uber and Uber Eats apps, offers curated recommendations on local favourites, tourist destinations, OpenTable restaurant reservations and on-demand delivery to hotel rooms. Uber One International means the membership programme now works globally, allowing members to earn credits on rides abroad that can be redeemed once back home. A new Shop for Me feature lets users request items from any store, even those not listed on the app. Eats for the Way allows riders in select cities booking an Uber Black or Uber Black SUV to have a drink or snack waiting for them in the car. Voice Bookings, powered by artificial intelligence, lets users book a ride conversationally, without touching their phone. And a redesigned One Search bar consolidates results for places, food and items across the entire Uber platform in a single query.
Uber has now logged more than 72 billion trips since it launched in 2010. The question it is now answering is what comes after the ride. The answer, apparently, is everything else. Whether users want a hotel in Paris, a coffee in the back of a car or a snake plant from the local garden centre, Uber would very much like to be the one to provide it. The app economy’s land grab has a new front-runner.
NOTE: The image used is AI generated and only for representational purposes.
