Titan wins Best in Show as SMARTIES India 2026 honours top campaigns

MUMBAI: In the race for marketing impact, a clever idea is only half the story; the real prize is making it count. The Marketing + Media Alliance (MMA) announced the winners of SMARTIES India 2026 at a gala held at Mumbai’s Taj Lands End on 9 October, recognising campaigns that combined creativity, technology and media to deliver measurable business results.

Titan’s “Made in India. Made for the Screen.”, created with Amazon Ads, took home Best in Show, while Airtel’s “The Safe Network” won the Juror’s Choice Award of the Year. The awards programme recorded a twofold increase in entries, with homegrown and challenger brands competing alongside established industry players.

Moneka Khurana, managing director and board member of MMA India, said the growth reflected a wider shift towards marketing that brings creative thinking and technology together with commercial accountability. She highlighted the prominence of personalisation, AI-driven creative, video, creator marketing and commerce in this year’s entries.

Titan led the brand Gold tally, with Colgate India and Pedigree following. Airtel 5G and Razorpay also secured Gold across multiple categories, while Philips India and Procter & Gamble India earned Gold recognition across their brand portfolios.

Titan’s winning campaign secured Gold in Brand Experience, Omnichannel Marketing, Short or Long Form Video, and Partnership, PR & Branded Content Excellence.

Pedigree’s “8x New Customers: AI Predicts Pet Parents” and Colgate’s “Oral Health Movement” each collected three Golds. Airtel’s “The Safe Network” and Razorpay’s “Break to Build” also won Gold across multiple categories.

AI featured prominently in the winning work. Pedigree’s campaign was recognised for customer growth, AI-powered insights and integrated e-commerce, while Colgate’s campaign won across audience engagement using AI, customer experience and AI-driven creative excellence. Razorpay’s “Break to Build” earned Gold in social media marketing and innovative use of AI in advertising.

The awards also highlighted the growing connection between content and commerce. Cadbury Celebrations’ “Brothers Who Care: Redefining Rakhi on Q-Commerce” won in D2C / E-commerce Marketing Excellence, while Titan’s campaign took the honour for Partnership, PR & Branded Content Excellence.

Wavemaker India topped the agency medal tally, followed by EssenceMediacom India and Mindshare India. Amazon Ads secured the largest share of Gold credits across the winning work, while OMD India, Starcom India and Talented also won Gold in multiple categories.

The Industry Awards recognised excellence across advertisers, brands, agency networks and specialist capabilities. L’Oréal India was named Advertiser of the Year, Titan Company Limited took National Advertiser of the Year, and Colgate India and Pedigree shared Brand of the Year. Titan was also named Local Brand of the Year.

Wavemaker India won Media Agency of the Year, WPP took Holding Agency Company of the Year, GOAT was named Specialist Agency of the Year and Ogilvy India won Creative Agency of the Year. Independent agency Talented received its category award, Amazon Ads was named Publisher of the Year, Logy.AI won Enabling Technology Company of the Year, and UltraTech Cement was recognised as Most Resilient Brand of the Year.

The wider medal tally also featured Amazon, Google, L’Oréal India, UltraTech Cement, Mondelez India, PepsiCo India and Myntra.

The winners were selected through a multi-stage review of strategy, execution, creative quality and business impact. The jury was chaired by Rajneet Kohli, executive director, Foods, Hindustan Unilever; Sairam Krishnamurthy, chief executive officer, Bombay Shirt Company; Geetika Mehta, managing director, NIVEA India; and Arvind R P, chief executive officer, Lenexis Foodworks.

Kohli said the strongest campaigns began with a clear understanding of consumers and demonstrated what their ideas changed for brands and customers, whether through AI, creators or commerce. Mehta emphasised that cultural relevance and new technology deliver the greatest value when they help build distinctive, trusted brands.

Rohit Dadwal, CEO and board member of MMA APAC and global head of SMARTIES, said India’s programme had recorded its strongest growth yet, with winning campaigns connecting cultural understanding, creativity and technology to measurable growth.

The 2026 programme also expanded its Industry Awards with four new categories: Juror’s Choice Award of the Year, National Advertiser of the Year, Local Brand of the Year and Specialist Agency of the Year.

Beyond the gala, SMARTIES winners contribute to the SMARTIES Business Impact Index, developed with WARC, which ranks agencies, advertisers, brands and solution providers for business impact. Results also feed into wider industry recognition through WARC Media 100 and RECMA.

The awards followed MMA SMARTIES Unplugged India 2026, where jury members and industry practitioners discussed the strategy, execution and measurement behind effective marketing. Together, the two events linked recognition with lessons for an industry increasingly expected to prove that creative ideas can deliver commercial results.