MAM
Tokyo 2020: Brands riding the Olympics bandwagon to root for Team India
MUMBAI: As India enters its 100th year of participation at the Olympic Games, the world witnesses the Games as never before. The country sent its first team to the Olympic Games in 1920, comprising four athletes and two wrestlers. Cut to this year’s 228-strong Indian contingent- the nation’s largest ever- at the event, delayed by a year due to Covid-19, and being staged amid a raging global pandemic, with zero spectators cheering from the bylanes.
However, that hasn’t stopped brands from going all out to cheer for Team India, as the mother of all gaming events gets underway. Brands have launched rousing, stirring campaigns that aim to infuse hope and cheer at an otherwise sombre Games, dampened by the pandemic.
Astral Pipes put out a heartening post acknowledging the efforts of all Olympians, regardless of whether they bring laurels back home, or not. It wrote:
“To all the Indian Athletes, we know you have worked really hard for the Olympics, we are proud of you. Win or lose, it doesn’t matter, keep up with the good work and the glory will follow you to our nation.”
Amul
The Dairy major known for its topicals released a couple of posts heralding the commencement of the Games and cheering Team India. #Amul Topical: Let the 2021 Tokyo Olympics begin!
#Amul Topical: Let the 2021 Tokyo Olympics begin! pic.twitter.com/T0zk6w3XjX
— Amul.coop (@Amul_Coop) July 22, 2021
#Amul Topical: Wishing our javelin throwers success at Tokyo Olympics! pic.twitter.com/QBa2lAJt8Y
— Amul.coop (@Amul_Coop) July 20, 2021
HUL’s Rin
The FMCG major launched a TVC celebrating the inspiring story of C.A. Bhavani Devi- the first Indian fencer to qualify for Tokyo 2021 Olympics. Rin’s #AbWaqtHaiChamakneKa narrates Bhavani’s story throwing light on the sacrifices of her mother who supported her in her pursuit of fencing, and highlights her incredible journey, which is an inspiration for all.
Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited (BPCL)
BPCL flagged off a series of campaigns under the title ‘Jeet Ka Padak’, which comprises a music video and inspirational stories of athletes on social media. The inspiring campaign aims to support and celebrate the sports individuals who pursue their dreams and demonstrate the valour to rewrite their destiny.
MPL Sports Foundation
The Mobile Premier League (MPL) launched a campaign featuring some of the biggest Indian Olympic stars, as part of a nationwide campaign to rally the 1.3 billion Indians to become fans of the Indian contingent at the 2020 Tokyo Summer Olympics. Called #FanBannJaaoge, the campaign features a film in multiple languages with Olympians PV Sindhu, Wrestler Bajrang Punia, Fencer Bhavani Devi, Shooter Manu Bhaker, and others. It was released across all mediums- TV, print & digital platforms.
The JSW Group
The Group launched an extension of its campaign, Rukna Nahi Hai, to celebrate and wish the Indian contingent. The campaign comprises a video featuring Neeraj Chopra, PV Sindhu, Manu Bhaker, Bajrang Punia and Vikas Krishan Yadav, lauds the indomitable spirit of the Indian athletes. The film also celebrates the official sponsorship by the Indian conglomerate of the Indian Olympic Association for the Tokyo2020 Games. The video showcases how the athletes have had to train harder through the challenging circumstances owing to the COVID-19 pandemic, which even caused the mega-event to be postponed by a year.
Thums Up
The Indian brand from the Coca-Cola beverage portfolio, has come to the forefront and partnered with the major global event. It launched the adrenaline-thumping Toofan wahi jo sab #PalatDe campaign, cheering Team India at the Games.
Brands
Samsung certifies 1,000 Maharashtra students in AI and coding
The South Korean electronics giant marks its first large-scale skilling push in the state, with women making up nearly half the national programme’s enrolment
PUNE: Samsung has put 1,000 students in Maharashtra through a certified training programme in artificial intelligence and coding, the largest such drive the South Korean electronics company has run in the state and a signal that corporate India’s skilling ambitions are moving well beyond the boardroom brochure.
The certifications were awarded under Samsung Innovation Campus (SIC), the company’s flagship corporate social responsibility programme, which launched in India in 2022 with the stated aim of democratising access to future-technology education. The 1,000 graduates were drawn from four institutions: 127 from Savitribai Phule Pune University, 373 from Pimpri Chinchwad University, 250 from D.Y. Patil University’s Ramrao Adik Institute of Technology and 250 from Anjuman-I-Islam’s Kalsekar Technical Campus. All completed training in either AI or coding and programming, the two disciplines Samsung has identified as the critical pillars of the digital economy.
The programme does not stop at technical training. Soft-skills development and career-readiness modules are baked into the curriculum, a deliberate attempt to close the gap between what universities teach and what employers actually want.
“India’s digital growth story will ultimately be shaped by the quality of its talent pipeline,” said Shubham Mukherjee, head of CSR and corporate communications at Samsung Southwest Asia. “As technologies like AI move from the periphery to the core of industries, skilling must evolve from basic training to building real-world capability. This milestone in Maharashtra reflects how industry and academia can come together to create a future-ready workforce that is both globally competitive and locally relevant.”
The Maharashtra drive sits within a rapidly scaling national effort. Samsung Innovation Campus trained 20,000 young people across India in 2025, hitting its stated target for the year. Women account for 48 per cent of national enrolments, a figure the company cites as evidence of its push for an inclusive technology ecosystem. The programme is implemented in partnership with the Electronics Sector Skills Council of India and the Telecom Sector Skill Council.
Samsung, which is marking 30 years in India this year, runs SIC alongside two other initiatives, Samsung Solve for Tomorrow and Samsung DOST, as part of a broader effort to build what it calls a generation of innovators with both the technical depth and the problem-solving mindset to thrive in a fast-moving digital world.
A thousand certified students is a tidy headline. Whether they find jobs that match their new skills is the harder question, and the one that will ultimately determine whether corporate skilling programmes like this one are genuine pipelines or well-photographed gestures.
