2025 was a year of consolidation. Of acquisitions announced, agencies merging, names disappearing, and structures being redrawn. Titles changed. Logos changed.
But one thing, remarkably, stayed intact. The quality of the ads.
While the business of advertising was reshaping itself, advertising refused to dilute. Month after month, day after day, brands continued to show up with films that made people stop, watch, and feel something, even if only for a few seconds.
IMPACT has curated a list of those very moments: The ads that held your attention, the stories that stayed with you, the ideas whose novelty made you glad that you’d seen something special. Presenting IMPACT’s Top 10 Campaigns of 2025.
This list is anchored in one format that continues to carry the full weight of storytelling: the video ad. No case studies. No retrospective reels. No breakdowns of what brands did across OOH, print, or other media. What made the cut were finished ad films created for the end consumer, experienced exactly as audiences encountered them.
To understand how these campaigns came to life, we went back to the people behind the work. We spoke to the creative leaders to uncover how the ideas were born, the production-day anecdotes that never made it into decks, the memories that stayed, and the learnings that only emerge once the work meets the world.
Together, these ten campaigns make one thing clear. Even in a year when the industry was busy rearranging itself, creativity didn’t wait for stability. It showed up anyway.
Interestingly, while curating this list, one theme stood out above all else: relatability. The most impactful ads of 2025 felt rooted in everyday insights and ordinary lives. Only three of the ten campaigns featured celebrity faces, a telling sign that storytelling is increasingly finding power beyond star presence.
Even in celebrity-heavy campaigns like Dream11’s, the narrative led the way. Myntra’s campaign featuring Gukesh and Viswanathan Anand proved that compelling stories aren’t limited to mainstream sports icons. Vinsmera’s Mohanlal film demonstrated how regional advertising can resonate nationally when done right. And GIC’s choice of a dog as its central character showed how emotion, not fame, drives memorability.
One trend we noticed during the interviews is that most of the featured ideas came from independent agencies. Only a few network agencies made it to the list, showing that bigger budgets can’t buy storytelling skills. It’s the independent agencies going ahead who are making their mark through strong ideas and execution.
Now, without further explanation, we turn to what truly matters: the backstories behind the campaigns.
"When the script of Dream11’s ‘Aapki Team Mein Kaun?’ campaign was first narrated to Aamir Khan, the loudest laugh came at a joke about his own height. This was for one of the shorter ads. Aamir is always a sport, in fact it’s a pattern that played out during an earlier Dream11 campaign, too, when Aamir had urged a reluctant Jasprit Bumrah to crack a joke referencing Laal Singh Chaddha.
What stood out even more, however, was something invisible on screen. For the first time, two creative agencies worked together on the same campaign, a situation we haven’t encountered before in Indian advertising. The decision was taken early in the development phase. Post the launch of Zerofifty Mediaworks by a team that was earlier associated with Tilt Brand Solutions, Dream11 decided not to choose one partner over the other. Instead, the client asked both agencies to continue, believing that the people shaping the campaign mattered more than agency boundaries.
Agencies aren’t naturally cooperative, and this kind of model is rare. It succeeded because of mutual trust and a small, close-knit group. The collaboration between two large agencies is almost unthinkable because once agencies scale up, people begin operating as representatives of institutions rather than as individuals.
Coming back to the campaign, today’s stars are far more comfortable with self-deprecating humour, largely due to constant exposure to online commentary. That confidence translated into a relaxed, collaborative atmosphere on set. Ranbir Kapoor agreed to the idea we had in mind, immediately. When asked if anything was off-limits, he said nothing was; he wanted the film to be funnier. Aamir Khan responded in much the same way and even suggested involving Ranveer Singh in the ad, but we couldn’t fit him in the script.
Creatively, the idea emerged from narrowing options rather than chasing novelty. With Dream11, many formats had already been explored over the years. The teams returned to category basics: rivalry, team selection, and competition. The conflict between Ranbir Kapoor and the fictional ‘Ranbir Singh’ grew out of writer-room discussions rather than a single originating idea.
Practical constraints also shaped the script. Director Nitesh Tiwari pointed out that an extended face-off between the two leads wasn’t feasible logistically. As a result, the narrative placed them in different parts of the same setting, talking about each other while supporting characters amplified the tension.
Several moments that struck a chord with audiences came from the sidelines, Rohit Sharma’s background reactions, fleeting appearances by Hardik Pandya and Jasprit Bumrah, and Jackie Shroff’s cameo. Shroff, in particular, brought remarkable dedication: at Purple Haze Studios where he rehearsed his single line in multiple ways, treating it almost like a full session for just one moment on screen.
Aamir Khan and Ranbir Kapoor, meanwhile, rehearsed together ahead of the shoot at Khan’s house, an unusual level of involvement that’s rarely seen in advertising. The three-day shoot produced a 2.5-minute film along with seven shorter edits.”
About Adarsh Atal
Adarsh Atal is Chief Creative Officer at Tilt Brand Solutions, part of Quotient Ventures, with over a decade in advertising. Born a Marwari in Nepal, based in Bangalore but working in Mumbai, he spent nearly a decade at MullenLowe Lintas Group (formerly Lowe Lintas), rising from Copywriter to Unit Creative Director on campaigns for Tanishq, Paper Boat, Flipkart, Britannia, and Fastrack. He joined Tilt around its 2019 launch, advancing through Director, Senior Director, Executive Director to Chief Creative Officer in May 2023, and Group Chief Creative Officer for Quotient Ventures in July 2024, overseeing creative at Tilt and Vector Brand Solutions.
About Shriram Iyer
Shriram Iyer is the Co-Founder of ZeroFifty Mediaworks, a Mumbai-based production house launched in 2024. He has over 25 years of experience in advertising, with a big part of it spent at Lintas and then at Tilt Brand Solutions. He has worked on brands including Unilever, Bajaj, Fastrack, Google, Havells, ICICI Bank, Tata Tea, Dream11 etc. He was previously a Co-Founder and Chief Creative Officer at Tilt Brand Solutions under Quotient Ventures, after which he moved on with Rajiv Chatterjee and T Gangadhar to start ZeroFifty Mediaworks.
Advertisements we loved in 2025
• For Shriram
The Whole Truth: ‘Protein ke Peeche Kya Hai?’
• For Adarsh
Cadbury Dairy Milk: ‘New Neighbour’
Best Campaigns
Dream 11: ‘Aapki Team Mein Kaun?’
T20 World Cup for Star Sports: ‘India’s Greatest Love’
Women’s Premier League: ‘Game of Emotions’
Bisleri: ‘Drink it Up’
Kiwi App: ‘Scan Pay Save’
"Working with animals proved to be both the biggest challenge and the ultimate truth test for the campaign. In the ‘Mary Ki Barfi’ film, the entire narrative hinged on a single emotional moment, the dog running back to Mary Aunty.
Despite multiple takes, it simply wasn’t happening. The shoot was eventually postponed, nerves were stretched thin, and it became clear that without that reunion, there was no film. The breakthrough came unexpectedly when the dog handler stepped in, dressed as the rickshaw driver from the story. The dog ran instantly. In that moment, the campaign found its heart, a reminder that animals can’t fake emotion, and that honesty is sometimes what makes storytelling truly powerful.
General Insurance Council (GIC)’s brief was deceptively simple yet incredibly challenging: How do you talk about general insurance to the nation?
Insurance as a category has long relied on fear of accidents, illness, loss. We wanted to move away from that and instead positivise insurance by telling stories people would actually want to watch. As a society, we often believe ‘Kuch nahi hoga, maine achche kaam kiye hain,’ and rarely celebrate people who plan by buying insurance.
From there, the storytelling followed naturally. Our research showed that bad things don’t only happen to bad people (Achche logon ke saath bhi bura ho sakta hai) So we created familiar characters who’ve always done the right thing, yet face life’s unpredictability. The ‘good thing’ they did was simply taking insurance, keeping the narrative emotional, positive, and free of fear.
The trigger was cultural relevance. The stray dog issue has long been simmering across housing societies and remains deeply polarising even in my own building. We saw it as a live, emotionally charged topic people instantly relate to. The idea of a stray dog as a campaign’s ‘ambassador’ felt fresh, and that novelty rooted in empathy struck a real chord.
The council comprises 20 CMOs from leading insurance companies, and they took a brave call with us: no celebrities. Instead, we chose the most unexpected characters to carry the story.
The ad film was part of the larger ‘Achha Kiya Insurance Liya’ campaign, which comprised six films set across different regions: South India, Bengal, Indore, and Lucknow. The entire campaign was shot over 20 days, with the films released in phases over the month that followed.
People responded strongly to the choice of Indies over pedigree pets. What audiences appreciated even more was the tone: the ads didn’t rely on fear. Instead, they brought back a sense of warm, emotionally led storytelling, elevated by thoughtful casting and Brijendra Kala’s magical narration.
While the decision to avoid celebrities was clear from the start, it was equally important that every animal felt like a character with a distinct personality, almost Disney-like. Several voices were considered, but director Shirish’s suggestion of Brijendra Kala proved perfect.
In the next phase of the campaign, Farida Jalal will lend her voice to another character. Some of the most memorable moments emerged organically on set, the dog’s now-famous neck twist and lines like ‘Apun toh pehle se smart hai na, aunty’ weren’t scripted discoveries. The script itself evolved in three phases: before the shoot, after the shoot, and once the narration came on board.
Choosing animals as spokespersons, instead of celebrities, was both the biggest risk and the greatest strength. But every time we narrated these stories, they made people smile and that instinct is what we ultimately trusted.”
About Sarvesh Raikar
Sarvesh Raikar is the President – Creative at Lowe Lintas, where he leads creative strategy across India, South Asia, Southeast Asia, the Middle East and Africa. Raikar joined MullenLowe Lintas Group in 2015 as Executive Creative Director, rose to Regional Creative Officer in 2020, and was appointed President in July 2024. His career spans leadership roles at Scarecrow Communications and Sorento Healthcare Communications. His work has earned top honours including Cannes Lions, D&AD, One Show, Spikes Asia and multiple Effies.
Advertisements I loved in 2025
• Native RO (Urban Company): ‘Lambi Judai’
• Chupa Chups Jellies: ‘Samajh Ke Bahaar’
Best Campaigns
Lifebuoy Indonesia: ‘Get Possessed by Freshness’
Lifebuoy India: Lifebuoy ‘Shah Rukh Relaunch’
Tata Commercial Vehicles (Tata Intra): ‘Success ka Mantra’
Macho Hint: ‘Ek Hint Toh Dete’
"I knew this idea could go wrong and had it backfired, I might have still been able to move on to my next film but Mohanlal would have to face the music. When I allayed my fears to him and asked Mohanlal aka Lalettan whether he would like an alternate script, the legendary actor was quick to say, ‘I’m a performer. Let’s do it. I know you will shoot it beautifully.’
With that faith, from both the actor and the founders of Vinsmera, a jewellery ad was born which ended up breaking every rule it was supposed to follow. This project in fact came to me through Mohanlal, we had just completed a film together in Malayalam where I played the villain. On his advice the Vinsmera team approached me.
Jewellery is a massive category in Kerala, but for years, advertising has followed the same formula: Grand weddings, big sets, a celebrity selling the product. Jewellery in Kerala is mostly worn by women, yet all the brands have male ambassadors. That contradiction felt like a strong place for me to begin with.
It was a new brand with no baggage, and I was working with a celebrity who I was completely comfortable with. That combination gave me creative freedom. From the start, I told the client: don’t expect a typical jewellery ad.
I often bounce off ideas with my long-time writing partner, Hari Das. While working on a feature film with Mohanlal, I told him how fluid and graceful his movements were, how there was a softer side to a masculine person like him. Hari picked up on the conversation and we arrived at the thought that, just how a masculine side to a woman is beautiful, a feminine side to a man was too. He asked me, ‘Why don’t we make Mohanlal wear jewellery?’ That’s how the idea took shape and we cracked the basic script in a day.
Mohanlal was working out at the gym when I called to narrate the script. While explaining the climax, the point where he wears the jewellery in the ad, I could hear he had dropped the weights in shock. But instantly came that familiar voice from the other side, ‘This is such a beautiful idea.’ The client was just as convinced because Mohanlal was excited about this ad.
Landing the idea was key. Once the shot was done, the jewellery blended naturally with Mohanlal’s performance, our joy was visible, and the campaign came together. The final line, Irresistible, or in Malayalam, ‘aaraum kothichu pokum,’ sealed it.
I could attempt this idea only because of Mohanlal. Handling it required immense grace, which he has naturally. I didn’t need to explain movements, just the situation, and he took over. I framed the shots, knowing his expressions and fingers would tell the story.
On set, my Director of Photography- Tapan would watch each shot and say, ‘Varma, what is this? I can’t believe we’re shooting this.’ The crew, was completely captivated. Not just Malayalees, anyone who watches this film will wonder, ‘What is this guy all about?’ and that’s sheer talent.
Mohanlal is such a simple person, traveling with just one assistant, yet performing effortlessly. In one shot, he even had teardrops in his eyes, subtle, fleeting, unforgettable. My first feature film was with Mohanlal. Now, the first ad in which I’m featured is also with him. We have great chemistry, I guess.
I believe any idea works if it’s executed well, pitched properly, engages the audience, and lands at the end. The real challenge is in convincing clients to take risks. I spent over 18 years working on Vodafone alongside Piyush Pandey, Rajiv Rao, V. Mahesh, and the team. With campaigns like ‘A Dog, A Boy, and Hutch’, ‘the Zoozoos’, and ‘an elderly couple celebrating their second honeymoon for Vodafone’; we took risks, and that’s how the brand grew so fast. Opportunities like that are rare, and when they come, you push them fully. That’s exactly what we did with Vinsmera."
About Prakash Varma
Prakash Varma is the Founder, Partner and Principal Director of Nirvana Films, a Bengaluru-based production company he co-founded with Sneha Iype in 2001. He has directed iconic and award-winning commercials such as ZooZoos for Vodafone (now Vi), the Boy & Dog campaign for Hutch (now Vodafone/Vi), the Incredible India campaign for India Tourism, the Dubai tourism ad feauring Shah Rukh Khan and more. Before founding Nirvana Films, he assisted AK Lohithadas, Viji Thampi, and ad filmmaker VK Prakash at Trends Adfilm Makers Pvt Ltd. In 2025, he made his acting debut in Mohanlal’s Thudarum as CI George Mathan, which received critical acclaim.
Advertisement I loved in 2025
• Cadbury Dairy Milk: ‘New Neighbour’
Best Campaigns
India Tourism: ‘Incredible India (2013)’
Dubai Tourism: ‘Dubai Presents: Shah Rukh Khan’
Vodafone: ‘Stronger Together’
Vodafone: ‘Vodafone Zumi - Runout’
Rajasthan Tourism: ‘Jaane Kya Dikh Jaaye!’
Madhya Pradesh Tourism: ‘MP Colours’
Kerala Tourism: ‘Your Moment is Waiting’
"I told my parents I had discovered a new species of flower.
I took them to the Mumbai Botanical Garden, walked them through an exhibition, and watched their faces slowly fill with pride. They leaned in, read the descriptions, and nodded appreciatively until they scanned for details and realised the ‘new species’ wasn’t rare, exotic, or found in nature. It was something we all own, something we rarely look at: our toothbrush.
When people finally realised the truth in the garden via the QR code, it wasn’t anger. It was laughter and recognition. Indians have a habit of using things well past expiry, and this campaign held up a mirror without accusation. The QR code led to a microsite explaining why changing your toothbrush matters, with the option to buy one instantly through quick commerce. It wasn’t a gimmick; it closed the loop.
That reveal mirrors the opening of ‘Indianis Dentris’ by Colgate. For the first 15–20 seconds of the ad film, you’re convinced you’re looking at a flower. Shot in extreme close-up, it feels soft, delicate, almost poetic, with no brand cues or advertising tells. Then the camera slowly pulls back, and the illusion breaks. The flower is an old, frayed toothbrush used every day, yet never truly seen.
That moment of surprise, discomfort, and recognition became the heart of the campaign. The brief was deceptively simple: One in two Indians doesn’t change their toothbrush. When we heard the statistic, we laughed because we realised we were guilty of it too. Toothbrushes sit quietly in bathroom corners, tucked into mugs, used mechanically, and forgotten. You don’t replace them because you never really look at them.
The campaign truly began with a casual line from the client. Gunjit Jain, Vice President at Colgate-Palmolive, said, ‘June, look at your toothbrush, it starts flowering.’ That sentence stayed with me.
Around the same time, we were sitting in a boardroom with a giant flower wallpaper, something like a dandelion. As we replayed the brief and stared at that image, something clicked. What if we didn’t tell people their toothbrushes were old? What if we showed them by making them see them as something else entirely?
Once we saw toothbrushes as flowers, we couldn’t unsee them. The early ideas were ambitious, even absurd. We joked about ‘discovering’ a new species in the Valley of Flowers and getting NatGeo-style coverage. Reality soon grounded us. Harshad and Kainaz asked the simplest, smartest question: why limit this experience to a few trekkers when you can bring it to everyone?
That’s how the Mumbai Botanical Garden came into the picture. Secrecy was everything. If the truth leaked, the idea would collapse. Director Mahesh Gharat and cinematographer Jignesh Jhaveri obsessed over macro photography, lensing, lighting, and texture to make toothbrushes look exactly like flowers. The reveal had to be unpredictable and flawless. Almost everyone said the same thing: ‘I’m going home and checking my toothbrush.’
The bravest decision we took with the client was hiding the Colgate logo until the very end. While most brands demand visibility in the first few seconds, Colgate trusted the idea. We also chose to shoot real toothbrushes from our own homes instead of recreating them with AI, and that honesty made all the difference.
For me, success wasn’t just about numbers. It showed up in WhatsApp forwards, society group chatter, and most meaningfully, in the campaign being studied as a case study by students at Asmita Applied Arts Institute.”
About Juneston Mathana
Juneston Mathana is the Executive Creative Director at Ogilvy India. He is a writer and has been featured on the IMPACT Hall of Fame cover for the third consecutive year. He has worked on brands such as Colgate, Gillette, Pantene, Raymond, Cipla, Indian Oil, and Sri Lankan Airlines, including a stint in Colombo. At Ogilvy India, he currently leads all category-defining work for Colgate.
Advertisements I loved in 2025
• Chupa Chups Jellies: ‘Samajh Ke Bahaar’
• Steadfast: ‘Dirty Money’
• Whole Truth: ‘Protein Ke Peeche Kya Hai?’
Best Campaigns
Colgate: ‘Cavity-Proof Childhood’
Colgate MaxFresh: ‘Cooling Crystals’
Colgate: ‘Colgate Active Salt: Theatre’
"A simple conversation between two strangers ended up doing what many high-decibel, big-budget campaigns fail to do: it made people quietly emotional. When ‘Chhoti Si Doori’ went live, one comment kept appearing across platforms: ‘Why am I crying after watching such a simple conversation?’ That question told us we had struck a chord.
The film stemmed from a clear brief by Urban Company to highlight the hidden bias around migration. While we often celebrate people moving to cities as MBAs, engineers, or CAs, we view the same journey very differently when it’s made by a blue-collar worker, even though both are driven by the same desire for a better tomorrow. As a platform, Urban Company serves customers while also working with service professionals they call it ‘partners.’ Respecting the dignity of labour is central to their philosophy, and this film became another expression of that belief.
While writing the script, we were clear that the story had to centre on two people in the same space. If we were exploring two kinds of migration, they needed to exist together on screen. The idea was simple: place them in one room and let a conversation unfold naturally, allowing the bias to surface on its own. That led us to make both characters from the same district. Dialect became the connector. Every region has its own linguistic cues, and we chose something that felt authentic, rooted in Eastern UP or Western Bihar.
Our team explored multiple options, even debated using a word for ‘bucket,’ before eventually landing on ‘Buharna’, a word that means ‘to sweep.’ It was familiar enough to be understood, but not common enough to feel generic. That one word became the turning point of the film. When the Urban Company partner says it and the white-collar migrant recognises it, a shared origin quietly surfaces. Then comes the line that shifts the tone of the conversation: ‘I am the same as you.’ The pause, the hesitation—it reveals the bias that follows, which is precisely what the film is questioning. The jobs may be different, but the journey is the same.
Director Shachi Malhotra kept the shoot simple and unobtrusive. The structure was planned, but the actors were given space to perform naturally, with the camera rolling as the conversation unfolded. Some of the most effective moments weren’t scripted, including a shot where one man sits on a chair while the other is on the floor. That physical distance stayed with us and later inspired the title Chhoti Si Doori, symbolising the gap in perception between two otherwise similar lives.
The film was shot in a single day in late April. We started early in the morning and wrapped by sunset. From pitch to release, it was a tight 40–50 day journey. Selling such a film is never easy. A script with no celebrities, no visual spectacle, and no overt drama, just two people talking, demands a lot of trust. Urban Company placed that trust in us.
Even before the release, we sensed the film was working. The offline editor watched it with tears in their eyes, and the music composer, Bharat, shared it with friends before it was finished, simply asking them to watch it. Those reactions confirmed that the emotion was landing. For me, the success of ‘Chhoti Si Doori’ goes beyond numbers. It lies in whether the film sparked reflection around dignity, labour, and migration. If it helped start that conversation, it did what it set out to do.”
About Neeraj Kanitkar
Neeraj Kanitkar is the Co-Founder and Executive Creative Director (ECD) of Fundamental. He brings over 15 years of experience shaping brands and leading creative teams, with a portfolio that includes high-profile campaigns for Facebook (Meta), McDonald’s, Lenovo, and other leading brands. Before Fundamental, he held senior creative leadership roles at Taproot Dentsu and DDB Mudra.
Advertisements I loved in 2025
• British Airways: ‘Reflections’
Best Campaigns
WhatsApp: ‘Baatan Hi Baatan Mein’
WhatsApp: ‘No-Text User Guides’
Jockey: ‘JKY Groove’
"At a time when some of the most uncomfortable workplace conversations revolve around the Gen Z–Millennial divide, and reports routinely question whether Gen Z is even the ‘right fit’ for professional environments or not. I found myself pushing back against that narrative from my lived experience. I lead a team that’s nearly 80% Gen Z, and while there are clear differences in how they communicate and operate, their contribution is meaningful, effective, and undeniable.
Every generation faces resistance. When millennials entered the workforce, we were labelled as too disruptive, too questioning, and too idealistic. Over time, those very traits reshaped workplace culture. Gen Z is simply a product of its time, growing up with early access to the internet, information, and global conversations. Their perspective is different, not deficient.
This thinking aligned naturally with Canva’s brand philosophy, ‘Dil Se Design Tak.’ At its core, the idea is simple: when you genuinely care, you put in extra effort, and design becomes the medium for that expression, with Canva enabling it. From this thought, the campaign took shape in two clear strands. One focused on personal expression, how people use Canva with friends and family. The other explored work use cases, particularly real-time collaboration, one of Canva’s strongest product truths, replacing older, fragmented file-sharing workflows.
The tension between generations became our emotional hook. We didn’t want to take sides or preach to anyone. The goal was to show that collaboration, enabled by a tool like Canva, can bridge differences. When you truly hear another perspective, empathy follows. That became the arc of the film.
We weren’t fully sure how the message would land. It was a tricky space, and we went through several script iterations to ensure we weren’t glorifying Gen Z or undermining millennials. Brave ideas, however, demand risk. Full credit to Canva for trusting the idea and being willing to take that chance.
Interestingly, this wasn’t the only route we explored. One script revolved around a ‘bring your kid to work’ day, where children accidentally mess up a presentation but their chaos sparks a brilliant idea. Another script featured an eight-year-old explaining her mother’s job, convinced she’s ‘cheating’ at work because Canva does everything: AI, Design, Decks, etc. To the child, it feels like magic, intercut with the reality of work behind the scenes. We proposed multiple ideas but collectively felt the Gen Z–Millennial story best captured the brand truth.
The challenge was that the scale was massive, around 12 films across three languages, making production extensive. Ideation and pitching took nearly three months, followed by two and a half months of production. Each film took about two and a half days per language to shoot. We were often racing against light, dropping visual ideas that didn’t add to the film’s grammar, and even switching locations at the last minute to find an office that felt legacy yet modern.
One of the bravest decisions came at the edit table. We changed the ending at the last minute based on a suggestion from the director. I rewrote it quickly, and it worked beautifully, smoother, more resolved, and emotionally stronger than what we’d planned. Looking back, the campaign reinforced something I deeply believe: when empathy leads the idea, and collaboration drives the process, the work finds its truth.”
About Kobita Banerjee
Kobita Banerjee is a Group Creative Director at OML with over 12 years of experience in creating impactful work while fostering a fun and collaborative creative culture. Across her career, she has led culture-shaping campaigns and IPs during her stints at Vice Media Group/Virtue Worldwide, Dentsu Webchutney, Toaster and DigitasLBi. Her portfolio includes work for iconic brands such as Johnnie Walker, Google, Flipkart, and Airtel, among others. In 2022, Banerjee was recognised among the LIA 100 Top Creatives, and she also played a key role in launching Diageo India’s DEI initiative, Table for Everyone.
Advertisements I loved in 2025
• Native RO (Urban Company): ‘Lambi Judai’
Best Campaigns
Canva: ‘Calm Chori’
Myntra: ‘Ek Aur Shaadi’
Bacardi: ‘It’s a Moodboard’
"The journey of The Whole Truth Foods’ campaign, ‘Protein ke Peeche Kya Hai?’, began with a brief from Shashank Mehta, Co-founder and CEO, The Whole Truth Foods. The idea was to turn protein powder mainstream, and to fundamentally move protein from the gym to the living room.
At the core of the brief was a key consumer insight: people are often scared off by protein powders because of the long list of ingredients that they don’t understand: big, complex chemical names. That led to flipping the conversation from the front of the pack to the back of the pack. That’s where ‘Protein ke Peeche Kya Hai?’ came into the picture.
As we started ideating, one line really clicked with us: ‘Protein ke Peeche Kya Hai?’ From there, the idea took off. We thought, why not completely rewrite the song and get bodybuilders to parody themselves?
From day one, the bodybuilders were central to the concept: styling, attitude, and the entire setup were clearly defined. Saying ‘yes’ to twenty bodybuilders in thongs dancing in an ad isn’t easy, but the brand backed it completely.
As Shashank is a consistent face of the brand, bringing him into the film helped close the loop. After all the parody and spectacle, his presence ensured the film landed cleanly on ‘The Whole Truth’, making the product and brand instantly clear.
We secured the music rights from Tips at a high cost. We were fortunate to get the song, and surprised that it hadn’t been used in advertising before.
One of the biggest constraints while making the film was getting the bodybuilders. Many of them were hesitant because the film is mocking conventional protein powders, and most professional bodybuilders have sponsorship deals with those brands.
The shoot wrapped in a single day. Credit to Indrashish Mukherjee and Kedhar Barve from Footloose Films for recreating the original song’s tone, right from matching the voices to rebuilding before layering in the new lyrics.
One anecdote I clearly remember, is simply having 15–20 bodybuilders in thongs on camera at all times. It’s definitely not something Arvind (Co-Founder of Manja), Projo (Co-Founder of Manja), or I ever imagined seeing on an agency monitor.
One realisation on set was that we had to switch off our advertising brains completely. I was the most anxious person on set. I kept asking the director, ‘Does this really work? Are we sure this isn’t too much?’
Ironically, the creative team was the most anxious about how it would land. But once we trusted the idea, everything clicked, and seeing those visuals on an agency monitor was surreal and unforgettable.
The campaign took off instantly within hours of launch, and the response was nonstop and impossible to ignore. While standard metrics mattered, the real validation came from people outside advertising; when non-industry friends called it fun, we knew it had landed.
In hindsight, the bravest choice was not pulling back. Resisting the urge to soften or dilute the idea, whether in visuals, performances, or the song, is what made the work bold and memorable. If we’d done any of that, this would’ve been a very different and very forgettable piece. I wouldn’t call the decisions brave as much as necessary. The key learning for me is this: when the best version of an idea demands something, you have to deliver it.
Watered-down ideas are endless and invisible. If there’s a core element that makes the work great, you have to fight for it even if it’s uncomfortable or worries the client because that’s how you reach the strongest version of the idea.”
About Suyash Barve
Suyash has over 15 years of advertising experience across agencies, including JWT, 22feet Tribal (DDB Mudra), and Creativeland Asia, working on brands such as Amazon Prime Video, Times of India, Mahindra, Netflix, Spotify, Budweiser, Ola Electric, and Taco Bell. His work has been recognised at Spikes Asia, LIA, Effies, and Goafest. He also hosts The Adventures of Cheap Beer, a podcast exploring inexpensive bars.
Advertisement I loved in 2025
• Flipkart: ‘SaSa LeLe’
Best Campaigns
Native RO (Urban Company): ‘A Love Story’
Gitam University: ‘Transformation. It begins here’
Amazon Prime: ‘Every kind of emotion. It’s on Amazon Prime’
Ionic Wealth: ‘Founders’
Native RO (Urban Company): ‘Lambi Judai’
"Technically, this was my first campaign after joining Talented. There was no external pressure, but there was definitely pressure in my head. When I joined, my pitch was that I would bring ‘Dilli ka Dil’ to the agency. Talented is Bangalore-based, and much of its work carries English and South Indian cultural codes. I felt there was space for a more North Indian, hinterland-rooted perspective.
Soon after I joined in June, a Raksha Bandhan brief landed one of those ‘Rakhi hai, kuch karna hai’ moments. But it was immediately clear to me that even though Tanishq is a jewellery brand, we couldn’t limit the story to gifting. Tanishq has always stood for progressive womanhood, so the bar was already high.
We began by questioning the idea of protection itself. Raksha Bandhan is usually shown as a brother physically protecting his sister, but that’s not how it always works. Often, the sister is 20 while the brother is just seven or eight. This led us to rethink protection as financial security, and that’s where we landed on ‘Haq Tyag’ (the unspoken practice, especially in North India, where women quietly give up their rights to family property after marriage). It’s a reality most people have seen up close, which made the insight feel deeply personal and universal.
The idea slowly evolved into something larger. It wasn’t just about jewellery or Rakhi anymore; it became about the question every woman carries at some point: ‘Where is my home?’ Before marriage, it’s your father’s house. After marriage, your husband’s. But in a patrilineal society, where does the daughter really ‘belong?’
As we developed the script further, the film turned into a coming-of-age story. That’s when we decided to build it as a sequel to ‘Fathers Written by Daughters’, a Tanishq Father’s Day ad spot. This time, it became ‘Brothers Written by Sisters’. The setting remained the same, the same house and veranda but the story shifted to the brother’s point of view. If a daughter can school her father, she can certainly school her brother, too.
The film’s strength lay in the sibling banter; nothing felt manufactured. From serving juice to dividing jewellery equally, the moments came straight from real homes. As children, siblings are equals, untouched by hierarchy, and those moments speak louder than any speech. It was also important that the brother didn’t feel weak or overly polished. We wanted an aspirational feminist man, empathetic, but with a spine, someone men could see themselves in, and women could feel drawn to.
Interestingly, this wasn’t a hard idea to sell to Tanishq. Production-wise, this was a brand-love film, not a product-led one, so budgets were modest. But the idea didn’t need scale. We didn’t need celebrities or influencers. The strength of the narrative carried the film. From brief to release, everything came together in under 30 days, with a single, exhausting but fulfilling day of shooting.
When the film went live, the response was strong. The impact was evident in the messages it received rather than the view counts. People from India and overseas reached out, industry professionals responded, platforms like Youth Ki Awaaz shared it organically, and it circulated on WhatsApp as a story rather than an advertisement.
The moment that truly stayed with me was when the ad film won the United Nations Population Fund’s (UNFPA) Laadli, an award you don’t even submit for. They simply watch the work released during the year and recognise what genuinely strengthens narratives around women. That recognition made everything feel worth it.
Looking back, my biggest learning was simple: don’t make ads, make content. We didn’t sell jewellery or moralise, no lectures, just real conversations between a brother and sister. That’s how change truly happens, in small, everyday moments.”
About Tanima Kohli
Tanima Kohli is a Creative at Talented, where she has taken on leadership responsibilities across key accounts including Coca-Cola, Meta, HUL, and Tanishq. Before joining Talented, Kohli worked at Enormous from 2022 to 2025, focusing on brand narratives. She began her career at ADK Fortune (now VML), where she worked from 2018 to 2022.
Advertisements I loved in 2025
• Mondelez Cadbury Dairy Milk: ‘New Neighbour’
• Chicago Hearing Society: ‘Caption With Intention’
Best Campaigns
Urban Company: ‘Chhote Sapne?’
Mohey: ‘Mohey Rang Do Cerulean’
Meta: ‘Your business deserves better’
Skyscanner: ‘Launch campaign for India’
"When a 100–200 metre stretch of Juhu Beach was shut down in the middle of a busy afternoon, passersby were left wondering what could warrant such a rare disruption. The answer was Netflix India’s launch campaign for WWE, one that set out to capture not just the scale of the global entertainment property, but the deep-rooted fandom it has built in India over decades.
The campaign, titled ‘Fanmania enters its Netflix era’, marked WWE’s move from Sony to Netflix for the first time and was designed to announce the arrival of one of the platform’s biggest marquee properties.
The film leans into relatability, nostalgia, and everyday Indian life, placing iconic WWE moves, gestures, and dialogues into the most unexpected real-world settings. Rather than positioning WWE as something new or reinvented, the brief was deliberately left open-ended. The idea was not to over-brand the transition, but to emphasise continuity. WWE remained the same larger-than-life spectacle audiences had grown up with; Netflix’s role was simply to amplify it by bringing greater scale, accessibility, and a richer viewing experience.
The idea took shape from a fan-first lens. The creative team, many of whom had grown up watching WWE, approached the campaign as fans rather than advertisers. This perspective became the foundation of Fan Mania, a concept inspired by the idea that WWE has always lived beyond the screen, spilling into the imagination and daily lives of its viewers. From Boomers to Gen Z, across metros and smaller towns, the campaign reflects how fans have long rehearsed choke slams in their heads, mimicked entrance music, or borrowed catchphrases in everyday situations.
The film showcases a series of vignettes set in government offices, neighbourhood lanes, massage parlours, and homes where WWE moments erupt unexpectedly into reality. The unpredictability of the settings became a key creative choice, ensuring the film did not follow a conventional advertising format. The decision not to feature celebrities further improved relatability, keeping the focus on fans rather than familiar faces.
Music also played an important role in shaping the film. Inspired by classic WWE entrance themes, the soundtrack helped build anticipation and nostalgia while maintaining a light, energetic pace across the different scenarios. The production itself matched the ambition of the idea. Shot over four to five days across 15–16 locations, the campaign employed two crews working in parallel, along with guerrilla shoots in hard-to-access bylanes in Mumbai and Delhi.
What began as a plan to shoot six or seven situations eventually expanded to over 15, driven by the enthusiasm of everyone involved. While only 11–12 made it to the final cut, several short-format edits were also created. The scale extended beyond logistics. From pitching to release, the entire process from global approvals to final edit was completed in roughly a month, making the tight timeline one of the campaign’s biggest challenges.
At its core, the campaign reaffirmed a creative truth: strong storytelling rooted in genuine insight can still cut through, even without celebrity endorsements or overt brand messaging. The campaign was led by a core team including Pradyum, Akash, Swapnil, and Gaurav, whose contributions helped shape what became one of Netflix India’s most talked-about launches of the year.”
About Kushager Tuli
Kushager Tuli is the President (Creative) at Tilt Brand Solutions, with over 18 years of experience in advertising. Over the course of his career, he has worked with leading agencies such as Ogilvy, Leo Burnett, and McCann, and his work has been recognised at prestigious global and Indian award shows including Cannes Lions, D&AD, and ABBYs, among others. Outside of work, he considers travelling to over 50 countries and exploring 25 states across India as one of his biggest personal achievements.
Advertisements I loved in 2025
• Dream11: ‘Aapki Team Mein Kaun?’
Best Campaigns
Myntra: ‘It’s You 2.0’
Ather Rizta: ‘All India Topper’
Cleartrip: ‘Prices jo karde sabki chutti’
TVS Eurogrip: ‘Bahut Time Hai’
Amazon Pay: ‘Payments ka A to Z’
"I knew the film was good. What I didn’t know was whether anyone would care. The Myntra FWD campaign featuring Viswanathan Anand and Gukesh Dommaraju was written and shot with complete conviction. But a day before it went live, I was genuinely unsure how it would land not because of the execution, but because I didn’t know whether people would get the idea, especially those who don’t follow chess. That uncertainty stayed with me.
FWD was a Gen Z brand that had not been advertised on Myntra before the launch of this campaign. The brief was simple: make people notice that it’s here, and that it’s for younger audiences. There were no strict rules on casting. Around that time, Gukesh became the youngest World Chess Champion at just 18, clinching the title in the World Championship. We explored multiple ideas some with just Gukesh, some with both Gukesh and Anand.
The pairing worked because it flipped a familiar equation. Anand is a mentor figure in Indian chess. Nobody talks back to him. Putting Gukesh in a position where he confidently does that felt new and, more importantly, believable. We pitched the idea in person at Myntra’s Bengaluru office, one of the few offline presentations we did that year. The first draft of the script was blunt. It landed immediately. We softened it slightly once the client came on board, but the core idea stayed intact.
The real challenge was time. We pitched in late December. The only shoot dates available were January 4 and 5. Anand and Gukesh were each available for just six hours in Bengaluru. Missing that window would have pushed the shoot by months and killed the topical relevance. So, we shot the entire film in six hours.
One moment from the shoot still stands out. We had written a Michael Jackson–style step for Anand. On paper, it worked. On set, I realised I didn’t have the courage to ask him to perform it exactly as written. As the shot was planned wide, I suggested trying a standing version instead. He agreed instantly but did his own version of the move. It wasn’t what we had planned. It was better.
The only complication was that every time Anand repeated the standing shot, Gukesh would start laughing. It wasn’t disruptive just one of those moments where the dynamic between them felt genuinely human. This was also our first shoot in Bengaluru. The core team travelled from Bombay, but we worked with local art teams for the first time in the city. There’s a perception that shooting cultures differ across cities, so there was some nervousness going in. None of it materialised. The collaboration was smooth, efficient, and we wrapped within the six-hour window.
Still, the doubt lingered. I wasn’t sure whether people would recognise Gukesh. I shared the film with Samay Raina and a few people deeply plugged into chess culture. Samay’s response was simple: ‘Everyone knows Gukesh.’ And even if they didn’t, they knew Anand. Watching someone speak to Anand like that would hold attention anyway.
The campaign went live in January. It travelled faster than we expected. What surprised me wasn’t just the view count. Every few months, whenever Gukesh beat a top player, the film resurfaced on social media. People reposted it. New audiences discovered it. Six months later, it was still being shared.
Another marker of success came through briefs. Brands started asking for ‘something like the Gukesh–Vishy ad.’ The biggest learning for me from this ad was simple - just because something isn’t relatable to you doesn’t mean it isn’t relatable at scale. India is large enough for niche interests to behave like mass culture, if the idea is honest.”
About Vishal Dayama
Vishal Dayama is the founder of Braindad, an independent creative agency. He is a writer, director, and brand consultant. He has worked on advertising and branded content for companies including CRED, Disney+ Hotstar, Lenskart, OnePlus, Swiggy, Rigi, and Netflix. Before founding Braindad, he worked as a Senior Writer at All India Bakchod (AIB) and later as a Creative Lead in marketing at Insider.
Advertisements I loved in 2025
• Vinsmera Jewels: ‘Truly irresistible’
Best Campaigns
Sprite: ‘Joke in a Bottle’
Super.money: ‘Cashback Catcher’
Ludic: ‘Comfort Aisa, Ki Ab Kya Bataayein’
Myntra FWD: ‘Sahiba Vs Mandira Feat Sehwag’
