Ad Campaigns
The Script Room swings for the fences with 32 IPL ad films for Groww, PhonePe, My11Circle and PaperBoat
MUMBAI: In a thunderous IPL innings, Bengaluru-based creative powerhouse The Script Room knocked it out of the park with 32 ad films across four marquee brands—Groww, PhonePe, My11Circle and PaperBoat—cementing its status as a storytelling ace in India’s busiest ad season.
From small-town dreams to nostalgic sips and meme-worthy jingles, the indie shop blended creativity with cultural cues to deliver high-impact campaigns that stood tall amid the IPL blitzkrieg.
Groww’s six-film campaign saluted New India’s many shades of progress—whether it’s moving cities or moving mindsets. Rooted in personal triumphs and quiet ambitions, the ads painted a relatable canvas of growth, far removed from the stock market ticker clichés.
PaperBoat Swing, meanwhile, served up a refreshing double with two warm, wistful films that stirred up childhood memories and the simple joy of coconut water. The nostalgic whiff came with the poetic touch of Gulzar saab, no less—produced by the same team that gave the brand its soul years ago.
PhonePe brought back its fan-favourite ‘PhonePe Girl’ with a 10-ad blitz, proving tech doesn’t have to talk like tech. Instead, it danced through daily life—charming its way through everything from paying bills to booking cabs. The 20-seconders were zippy, cheeky, and bang on brand.
Then came My11Circle, crashing in with a “baith ja” banger. With a cheeky twist on the classic Aaja Meri Gaadi Mein Baith Ja, the campaign’s jingle “Aaja Meri Circle Mein Aaja” became an earworm—and a meme sensation. With 14 snappy spots and a swag-loaded positioning, it called out to the game-chasers and glory-hunters alike.
The numbers? Millions of views, strong TV presence, digital domination, and social media amplification. My11Circle doubled down with influencers and celebs to push the pedal on reach.
The Script Room cofounder Ayyappan Raj said, “IPL has always been super prime time for us. While it’s a big sporting event, it’s also India’s biggest media event. And since we are focussed only on films many clients reach out to us for sharp thinking, simple-yet-insightful stories, in short formats. We had a very good run this year at IPL with superb work for PhonePe, My11Circle, Groww and PaperBoat. My11Circle audio-track is a massive hit and is already part of meme culture. Groww story of a man choosing to work from a small town is one of my favourite films. Thanks to our collaborators Vinil Mathew, Vasan Bala, Shakun Batra and Shirsha Guha Thakurta, and our writing partners Sainath, Shivani, Mihul for bringing alive all of these stories in the best possible form.”
The Script Room cofounder Ramsam added: “IPL is all about capturing attention in the shortest possible time and that’s where our strength lies – storytelling that’s sharp, engaging, and quick. In fact, our very first IPL campaign in 2019 was a series of 10 short films for Netflix, played episodically over consecutive adbreaks.”
He added, “Also most IPL briefs are quite focused, after all, it’s the most premium advertising slot. Over time, with repeated collaborations across IPL seasons, we’ve found our rhythm with brands. We focus on life insights, simplicity, and always try to think like the consumer, not just as advertisers. That helps the stories land better.”
With directors like Vinil Mathew, Vasan Bala, Shakun Batra, Shirsha Guha Thakurta, and writers Sainath, Shivani, Mihul behind the camera, The Script Room’s IPL 2025 showreel is a mic-drop moment for India’s indie ad scene.
Watch the highlights:
PaperBoat
Film
PhonePe
Film
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.
