e-commerce
Amazon spends Rs 100+ crore to build local connect via ad campaign
MUMBAI: In a competitive world where every brand is armed with a killer instinct, connecting and making an impact on the minds of the target audience can be an arduous job.
In such a scenario, unperturbed by competition, e-tailer Amazon India was all out blazing guns this Indian Premier League (IPL) and invested as much as Rs 100 crore in its latest ad campaign ‘Aur Dikhao,’ which was conceptualized by Leo Burnett India. It may be recalled that before the start of the IPL, Amazon India upped itself as the presenting sponsor of the tourney. The e-tailer was second only to Vodafone in terms of number of slots per match.
Research depicts that 35 per cent of the ad spend in 2015 will come from e-commerce ventures. What’s more, the IPL has always been one of the major targets for brands to garner huge reach every season and that’s exactly what Amazon India latched on to in order to gain visibility and traction amongst the audience.
According to an analysis by Television Audience Measurement (TAM), five out of the top ten brands (on the basis of number of ads during live matches) are from the e-commerce segment. However, besides spending money and buying slots, creative execution is the other aspect that plays a vital role in pulling in customers.
Speaking to Indiantelevision.com on the ideation for the campaign, Leo Burnett chief creative officer Rajdeepak Das says, “Amazon is already big; bigger than any of its competitors. So while others were trying to establish themselves, we had to take the other route. The task with Amazon was to build a local connect and go ‘desi,’ this is why we went with the ‘Aur Dikhao’ campaign.”
The ‘Aur Dikhao’ campaign had numerous ad films directed by Chak De! India director Shimit Amin, which illustrated the widely versatile range of products in Amazon’s catalogue. After the wide range message was conveyed and the campaign managed to create a buzz, another sub-campaign #Whattasale was launched.
“With ‘Aur Dikhao,’ we conveyed the message to consumers about our wide range of products. Now it was time to get them to act and hence we launched whattasale, with the message that Amazon had the range and that they needn’t wait any longer to go ahead and shop. As Indians are always price conscious, we announced the three-day sale where attractive discounts were given. That step was taken to gather some action,” informs Das.
In a bid to gain some traction on its mobile app, Amazon also shot out a clear-cut message that app user would get added benefits and hence urged people to download its app. With every TVC, multiple messages were delivered to gather action from consumers.
Not taking the route of celebrity endorsements unlike its competitor Snapdeal.com, who has on board actor Aamir Khan, Amazon’s ads were shot in Indian localities to ensure connect and familiarity amongst consumers. The props used in the TVCs were also very ordinary. While every ad had a television in it, none of them were modern day LEDs or smart TVs. A foot-tapping soundtrack composed by Bollywood music director Ram Sampat complemented the TVCs.
IPL is a blockbuster event where every second is premium. When asked if it was difficult to create a campaign for an event where the ad rates were paramount, Das opines, “I think it’s easier. Yes, the pressure is there because the event has enormous reach and if you don’t execute the plan properly, it may leave a negative impact for the brand. However, if you successfully execute the plan, your creative piece can spread via word of mouth.”
Additionally, the placement of an ad also plays a pivotal role in ensuring good reach and interaction. Commenting on the planning and buying, a media expert asserts, “Just making a creative ad or putting huge sum of money does not seal the deal. You have to ensure good placements too. I saw Amazon TVCs at crucial stages of the match. They also increased the frequencies during the ‘whatasale’ campaign, which boomed their sale up. So overall in my opinion, Amazon made worthy use of the money they put in courtesy to their all round efforts.”
Complementing the campaign, creative veteran and Monozygotic co-founder Rajiv Laxman says, “The entire concept and execution of ‘Aur Dikhao’ was really nice and I like concepts with propounding insights. It’s something all of us know but never thought about. A brand like Amazon, which is always considered as global brand, traditionally struggles to create a local connect and ‘Aur Dikhao’ was a brilliant idea to build local connect because of its simplicity. The execution was also nice. There was no glamour or any celebrity… everyone watching the ad could connect and relate. We go to buy a saree and we say ‘Aur Dikhao.’ We use this term everywhere we go to shop and hence it was a great concept for a brand like Amazon, which lacked local connect.”
Amazon India integrated marketing director Manish Kalra had earlier said, “Offering customers a wide choice and a destination where they can find, discover and buy anything that they desire to online has been one of our key strategic pillars. Our selection growth in India over the last 22 plus months of launching our India operation has been phenomenal and today we are able to offer customers a wide choice over 22 million products across hundreds of categories to choose from. We have taken this as an inspiration and used it to show the unending selection of products that Amazon India has to offer through the new campaign. We believe that the term ‘Aur Dikhao’ will resonate with shoppers in India who love to have more choice.”
“Great clients have played a vital role behind every good work that I have done so far and I must say Amazon is a great client. There are many more TVCs coming up and soon we will also explore new territories. Overall, I am happy with the campaign and the responses that we got so far,” Das concludes.
e-commerce
Amazon unveils first Trustworthy Shopping Experience Report
32,000 bad actors targeted, 15 million fake products removed in 2025.
MUMBAI: In a marketplace where trust is the real currency, Amazon is showing its receipts. Amazon has released its first-ever Trustworthy Shopping Experience Report, offering a detailed look at how it polices its vast digital shelves from counterfeit crackdowns to scam detection and review authenticity. At the heart of the report is a four-pronged strategy, proactive controls, risk anticipation, enforcement against bad actors, and consumer protection. The scale is staggering. Since 2020, Amazon’s Counterfeit Crimes Unit has pursued over 32,000 bad actors globally through litigation and criminal referrals spanning 14 countries.
The clean-up drive accelerated in 2025, with the company identifying and disposing of more than 15 million counterfeit products worldwide. Legal action also led to the takedown of over 100 websites linked to fake reviews and scams, an ongoing battle in the age of algorithmic manipulation.
Behind the scenes, artificial intelligence and machine learning are doing the heavy lifting. Amazon says it monitors billions of daily interactions across listings, reviews, and seller activity to spot trouble before it surfaces. Its predictive systems can even flag potentially infringing listings for trending products before brands raise the alarm.
Tools like Omniscan, which verifies product safety information at scale, and SENTRIX, designed to detect and eliminate phishing websites, are part of this expanding tech arsenal. Together, they aim to reduce risk while keeping the platform usable for legitimate sellers.
That balance between protection and friction is a tightrope Amazon acknowledges. Rohan Oommen, Vice President of Worldwide Customer and Partner Trust, noted that while safeguards are critical, they must not stifle genuine businesses. Features like the Account Health Dashboard are meant to give sellers clearer visibility into compliance and performance.
Consumer-facing measures are also getting sharper. From direct safety alerts to recall notifications and refund guidance, Amazon is leaning into transparency, backed by partnerships with consumer organisations to raise awareness.
The report’s release follows the expansion of Amazon’s Counterfeit Crimes Unit into India, signalling a deeper push into one of its fastest-growing markets, with closer coordination planned between brands, sellers, and law enforcement.
In short, as online shopping grows more complex, Amazon is betting that trust built through data, enforcement, and a fair bit of algorithmic vigilance will be its most valuable product yet.
