Ad Campaigns
With Otrivin’s ‘Pollution Capture Pencils’ initiative, school kids write open letters addressing the rising pollution
Mumbai: This Children’s Day, Otrivin Breathe Clean encourages adults to take a pause to listen to the voices of children and give them this special gift: the gift of breathing clean. Otrivin Breathe Clean brings to life this initiative of 1000 open letters, written by children using a special pencil, through a campaign designed by Grey Group.
Otrivin’s Actions to Breathe Cleaner programme recently announced the launch of a new initiative called “Pollution Capture Pencils,” which turned pollution waste by-products into pencils for children.
As a part of this initiative, Otrivin Breathe Clean installed twenty-two sustainable and self-cleaning air purifiers to improve the air quality of approximately one thousand school children. The pollution residue collected from these air purifiers was then mixed with graphite to create “Pollution Capture Pencils.” These specially produced and designed pencils were used by school children in Delhi NCR to write over 1,000 open letters to adults, urging them to take small actions to help them breathe better.
Through these 1,000 open letters, children have shared their pollution stories with the world, talking about how air pollution is impacting their lives and what small steps they are taking as young kids to make this world a better place. The heartwarming letters share personal incidents and anecdotes from these children’s lives. The “Pollution Capture Pencils” are acting as instruments of change for the school children.
A common thread binding the words of over a thousand children is a desire to live in a pollution-free environment and a wish that every individual make small amends to build a better future. Children also urge adults to take small yet impactful actions like participating in a tree-planting drive, turning off their cars while waiting at a red light, or commuting using public transportation.
Otrivin Breathe Clean is committed to helping people breathe better, and this initiative is a step towards bolstering this commitment. The Actions to Breathe Cleaner initiative is attempting to bring air pollution to the forefront of Indian citizens’ minds by not only highlighting the problems it causes, but also by suggesting simple everyday actions that can combat it.
Haleon India subcontinent pain and respiratory health lead Bineet Jain said, “Rising levels of air pollution in Indian cities are a big problem, and children are one of the most vulnerable groups exposed to it. The “Pollution Capture Pencils” have been used as instruments of change by children to express themselves through heartwarming letters. The letters make us realise the world that we live in through the eyes of children. These letters struck a chord with me, and I am sure they will appeal to everyone at large. If each one of us can take a small action to breathe cleaner, then together we will make this a better world for our future generations.”
Grey Group India chief commercial officer and managing director Sandipan Bhattacharyya added, “When a message for change comes from the ones who contribute the least to pollution but are the worst affected, it’s bound to be compelling. This is a campaign to trigger introspection and action. So, we hope these letters from children, written with pencils made from carbon extracts from polluted air, make each one of us take a small step for change.”
The initiative doesn’t end just yet. It will continue to take the “Actions to Breathe Cleaner” programme to greater heights. Otrivin Breathe Clean will soon announce upcoming events and developments.
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.
