The first month of the year 2026 brought us ads that resisted the urge to impress in ways that are obvious. Instead, they slipped into familiar yet slightly offbeat moments, freeing small details to carry the narrative. A curious hole cut into a helmet. The quiet rituals before a wedding. A custom that shifts from tradition to necessity. Each moment plays with expectation, setting up one reality, then gently redirecting it, sometimes with warmth, sometimes with humour, often with both. By trusting timing, contrast and context, these campaigns remind us that impact doesn’t always need to announce itself to be felt.
Campaign: ‘Har Koi Peera Lahori Zeera 2.0’
The film opens with a series of curious, almost absurd moments- people drilling holes in car roofs, helmets, and even ceilings, creating momentary confusion, with no clear reason why. The reveal comes with a playful twist: each space is perfectly shaped to fit a Lahori Zeera bottle. With no dialogue and only visual humour, the ad turns the act of ‘making space’ into a recurring visual motif, that smartly communicates ubiquity using repetition and surprise to make the brand message feel playful, yet strong.
Brand: Lahori Zeera
Agency: Enormous
Creator: Ashish Khazanchi, Managing Partner, Enormous
Campaign: ‘My Best Friend’s Wedding’
The film begins on a wedding morning as Dulquer Salmaan and Keerthy Suresh drive together, speaking about the day ahead like close friends. When they reach the venue, the quiet reveal unfolds, the bride is Dulquer’s mother, played by Suhasini Maniratnam, and he is there to walk her into a new chapter of her life. Throughout the ceremony, Jos Alukkas jewellery appears naturally within the celebration, becoming part of the memory rather than the spectacle and building brand meaning through narrative rather than persuasion.
Brand: Jos Alukkas
Agency: Toki Creative Collective
Creator: Anjo Jose Kandathil, Creative Director & Co-Founder, Toki Creative Collective
Campaign: 'Prayers for Safety'
The campaign ‘Prayers for Safety’ draws from a local Himalayan riding ritual where bikers tie Tibetan prayer flags to their bikes for protection and good luck. Hero MotoCorp reimagines these flags as portable first-aid kits carrying bandages, antiseptics and gauze. Distributed across biking hubs in Manali and Leh-Ladakh through rental outlets, cafés and dispensers, the idea blends cultural belief with real-world safety, making protection part of the journey, not an afterthought.
Brand: Hero MotoCorp
Agency: Saatchi & Saatchi India
Creator: Kartik Smetacek, Chief Creative Officer, Saatchi & Saatchi India
Campaign: 'A LAWYER’S JOURNEY’ (FT. JOLLY AND POLLY)
The film shows a lawyer being questioned for changing a settled practice, with worries about family and financial security. The doubt is answered by Jolly and Polly - narrative voices played by Rishabh Pant and Ravindra Jadeja, who are also introduced as the brand ambassadors of the brand. They function as advisors who interpret the situation, balancing idealism with practicality. This creative choice turns into a story about reassurance, using familiar public figures as symbolic inner voices rather than sales faces.
Brand: SBI Life Insurance
Agency: McCann Worldgroup
Creators: Vikram Dhembare, Senior Creative Director & Nikhil Mehra, Creative Director, McCann Worldgroup
Campaign Name: 'VOTE FOR LONG TERM GROWTH WITH KOTAK FLEXICAP FUND’
The film opens like an election speech, with candidates making poetic, over-the-top promises of standing strong through storms, fire and hunger, asking not just for votes but lifelong loyalty. The exaggerated rhetoric builds emotional drama before a humorous interruption – who can truly deliver in the long run? The answer shifts to Kotak Flexicap Fund. The creative uses political language as satire, shifting from melodrama to realism, and cleverly reframes choice and commitment through wit, timing and contrast.
Brand: Kotak Mutual Fund
Agency: Preston Picture Studios
Creator: Rishabh Shrivastava, Creative Director, Preston Picture Studios
