Flipkart's campaign for its Big Bang Diwali Sale introduces Diwali, a fictional village in Punjab where the doorbell is a patakha and an anaar helps when the power goes out. A microsite, Diwalidedeals.com, hides coupons around the village. The sale begins on October 28.
Read more at afaqs! →
Visa has refreshed its visual identity with a standalone "V" symbol and a custom typeface called Visa Sans, replacing the blue, white and yellow flag-like mark. The name, logo, purpose and values stay. The update aims to keep the brand recognisable across digital commerce.
Read more at marketing-interactive.com →
VML India has made a festive KitKat campaign about the small mishaps of festive preparation, from last-minute rushes to plans that go wrong. The film positions KitKat as a way to pause and return to the celebration. The chaos, as usual, is supplied by the family.
Read more at MediaNews4U →
Tata Group retailer Trent has signed a licensing deal with Caffe Nero to open cafes inside Westside and Zudio stores, per The Economic Times. Talks with Tata Starbucks broke down because Starbucks wanted a prominent, front-facing presence. Both companies are Tata. The coffee still did not get the window seat.
Read more at afaqs! →
Kurkure has introduced Ribbon Pakoda, inspired by the traditional South Indian snack, for kirana stores in Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu. It uses rice flour, three dals, sesame, black pepper and Guntur chilli, and contains no palm oil, artificial colours or flavours, the company says.
Read more at Indian Retailer →Tata Starbucks' Diwali campaign, 'Special Diwali ki Special Jagah', is a film about coffeehouses as settings for new connections, milestones and beginnings, from first introductions to new family relationships. It builds on the chain's positioning as a space between home and work. In-laws, now over cold brew.
Read more at afaqs! →Samsung is running its SSD campaign, "Choose the sure thing," on out-of-home screens in Times Square, Piccadilly Circus and Central, Hong Kong. The key line reads "When you've got everything to lose, choose the sure thing." Few storage devices have had this much ambient lighting.
Read more at news.samsung.com →GROHE SPA has installed a live water display at Terminal 3 of Delhi International Airport, on view from October to December 2026. Travellers can interact with the premium shower collection outside a showroom. "The bathroom is becoming a personal sanctuary," said Priya Rustogi of LIXIL IMEA. Departures now include showers.
Read more at afaqs! →Mentos has unveiled a TVC for its new Fresh Action candy with the tagline "Kya saans khuli, kya hawa chali." The humorous film is set in a flour mill where the owner is covered in flour from head to toe. A strong exhale is involved.
Read more at afaqs! →GIVA has launched its Diwali campaign, "Pataka for Every Pataka," with actor Shweta Tripathi and a 925 silver Pataka Collection inspired by firecrackers. The film opens on a heroine printed on a firecracker pack and asks, "Why not heroine pe pataka?"
Read more at Adgully →Kenstar's new water heater campaign, 'Heats Fast, Make It Last', uses the on-screen banter of Rajkummar Rao and Patralekha to highlight fast heating, safety and durability, plus installation and after-sales service. Winter marketing has found its couple.
Read more at afaqs! →Pizza Hut has launched its Overloaded Half N Half range, two flavours on a single pizza on its new Handstretched Crust, in medium and large. Combinations include Paneer Supreme with All Veggies and Chicken Keema with Chicken Supreme. Indecision is now on the menu.
Read more at afaqs! →Wow! Momo Foods will open in Sri Lanka by the end of 2026 with Softlogic Corporation as master franchisee, starting with three Colombo outlets. It plans 20 outlets within two years, is evaluating the UAE and plans to target the US after two years.
Read more at afaqs! →Secret Alchemist's Diwali campaign for Signature, its Indian perfumery collection, features co-founder and actor Samantha Ruth Prabhu and introduces a 50ml format. The brand says it builds fragrances on Indian botanical ingredients rather than simply drawing inspiration from traditional perfumery.
Read more at Indian Retailer →
Three weeks in, AAAI president Sandeep Goyal is rebuilding the 80-year-old body around councils, regional chapters and an AI bootcamp. Asked about its relevance, he told afaqs, "That's a very valid question, but I am not sure if I have a valid answer." Honesty is a fine place to start.
Read more at afaqs! →
SME firm SIMCA Advertising reported revenue from operations of Rs 109.24 crore for the half-year to September 30, up from Rs 48.71 crore. Profit before tax rose 60.7% to Rs 16.36 crore as it expanded its DOOH network and moved into airport advertising at Shirdi.
Read more at The Economic Times →
The 2026 Digiday Awards honoured work where cultural relevance, audience participation and measurable business impact "increasingly go hand in hand." Adidas and Gamefam won Best Partnership for meeting younger consumers in the environments where they already spend time. Poppi and Walmart Connect also won.
Read more at Digiday →
The Advertising Club named Hindustan Unilever Best Media Client of the Year at the EMVIES 2026, held on October 23 in Mumbai. Mindshare won Best Media Agency and WPP Media Best Media Agency Network. The awards bill themselves as "the Oscars of the media world."
Read more at Passionate In Marketing →Two-thirds of Australians suspect brands or bots are behind viral hype, and 59 per cent see being hard to influence as more aspirational than being an influencer, per TBWA's Backslash research. Strategy chief Eloise Liley urges "concentrated credibility." The research was, naturally, shared to be influential.
Read more at mi-3.com.au →Maitri Advertising Works won Agency of the Year at the inaugural Love of Advertising Awards, organised by Advertising Club Trivandrum and powered by Kerala Tourism, in Kovalam on October 24. Goel TMT was Brand of the Year and The Unicorn Films Production House of the Year.
Read more at MediaNews4U →Cheil India has appointed Geetika Chadha associate vice president for social and influencer marketing on its Samsung business. She joins from Reckitt and spent close to a decade at Mindshare. Cheil SWA COO Kumar Awanish said brands "need to stop interrupting and start entertaining." Said by an advertising company.
Read more at afaqs! →Aleph has appointed Medhavi Singh as country head for India. She joins after nearly nine years at Criteo, where she most recently ran India, and close to five years at Google before that. Her experience spans commerce media, retail media and quick commerce.
Read more at afaqs! →Unilever-owned Liquid I.V. has hired Jenny Danzi, previously CMO of Poppi, to lead marketing, creative and consumer teams. Her brief is to unite its "science-backed foundation with modern, culture-driven brand building." She spent years at PepsiCo, which acquired Poppi in 2025.
Read more at Adweek →Netflix has appointed Steve Wilson, who spent 15 years at Apple working on Apple Podcasts, to lead podcast content acquisitions, initially as a consultant, according to media reports. Netflix began bringing video podcasts to its service in 2025. Podcasts now need a streaming service.
Read more at afaqs! →Expressions Agency will launch Expressions Influencer Agency on October 29 at an invite-only summit at Tusker Microbrewery in Nairobi. The firm says brands increasingly want to know whether influencer campaigns translate into engagement and measurable commercial results, beyond reach and visibility.
Read more at the-star.co.ke →Financial services firm Jainam, with more than 22 years in capital markets, has appointed Gozoop Creative as its social media partner. The agency will develop content reflecting Jainam's approach of guiding traders and investors towards more informed, disciplined decision-making. On social media, of all places.
Read more at afaqs! →Online trading platform Shoonya by Finvasia has appointed Basant Dhawan as chief marketing officer to strengthen brand visibility and attract first-time investors across India. Dhawan has nearly 30 years of experience across financial services, media, sports broadcasting, telecom and digital platforms.
Read more at Free Press Journal →
From November 12, a Meta Pixel setting called "Measure conversions on customer devices" switches on for advertisers who take no action, checking some purchases on shoppers' own devices. Meta says it recovers sales that never reach its reports. The reports will now find more sales, by default.
Read more at PPC Land →
Meta has postponed revised advertising terms to November 20 from October 30 after publishers and advertisers objected that they could give Meta broad rights to use their content for AI services, Reuters reported. Complaints have reached EU and UK antitrust authorities. Meta disputes that reading.
Read more at Storyboard18 →
Independent agencies say spending enough to land a direct relationship with a demand side platform has not happened, and they pay steep penalties for access, Digiday reports. Agencies once dubbed The Trade Desk the Spirit Airlines of the DSP world. The fees, like the legroom, are extra.
Read more at Digiday →
After an iPhone update, The Trade Desk's ads stopped loading in Safari as Apple blocked its ad server and UID 2.0 identity system, Digiday reports. ID5, LiveRamp, Permutive and Audigent were cut off too. Apple partly restored the ad server in early October and explained itself on October 19.
Read more at Digiday →
When Google Ad Manager switched to first-price auctions in 2019, publishers hoped for a windfall and buyers feared a bloodbath. Neither happened, Agency Reporter argues, because of bid shading, now a default setting most marketers no longer treat as a decision. Occasionally it is a line on an invoice.
Read more at agencyreporter.com →JioHotstar has launched StreamToCart Ads, a shoppable format powered by Instamart that lets viewers browse and add products to cart during video breaks without pausing or leaving the player. Brands can track add-to-cart events alongside ad metrics. The ad break now has a checkout.
Read more at afaqs! →TRAI has recommended bringing free ad-supported streaming TV platforms under a regime similar to traditional TV distribution, as a new category called Application-based Linear Television Distribution Services. The October 26 recommendations, sent to the broadcasting ministry, apply regardless of business model or device.
Read more at afaqs! →The Bombay High Court has dismissed Meta's jurisdiction challenge, letting Blink Digital India's suit proceed. Blink seeks restoration of disabled Meta Business Manager accounts and pages plus damages above Rs 1,000 crore. Its plea for interim relief is listed for hearing on November 2.
Read more at exchange4media.com →Anthropic's S-1 shows advertising spend rose from $33 million in 2024 to $147 million last year, more than Duolingo spent on sales and marketing combined, Digiday reports. Claude will not carry ads when Anthropic goes public. "Plenty of them will be carrying Claude," Digiday notes.
Read more at Digiday →Brands are competing for premium connected TV inventory this festive season, but an ad can appear delivered even if the TV is off or the impression came from a distant server, Storyboard18 reports, citing an analysis by ad-fraud firm mFilterit. The invoice, at least, is real.
Read more at Storyboard18 →JioStar has secured subcontinent broadcast rights for the 2026 Abu Dhabi T10, with all 32 matches on Star Sports and JioHotstar. The deal follows Abu Dhabi Cricket and Sports Hub taking majority ownership and commercial rights of the tournament earlier this year.
Read more at afaqs! →Sony Pictures Networks India has launched Sony VIZHA, a Tamil general entertainment channel, in Malaysia on Astro channel 220 and Astro GO, its first linear channel debut on the operator. The line-up includes Tamil Idol and Celebrity MasterChef Tamil, with English subtitles.
Read more at afaqs! →BIG FM has applied to the information and broadcasting ministry to launch six digital-first news channels and has acquired Sapphire Media's news business, including India Daily 24x7. The network plans regional and vernacular news and micro-content. A radio company is now mostly a news company.
Read more at afaqs! →
Sprinklr has launched a beta of Marketing AI Agents, six specialised tools covering ideation, creative, execution, compliance, community and budget. It says trends move faster than a concept-to-launch process that can take several weeks. The agents, it adds, leave decisions with people.
Read more at netinfluencer.com →
Canva has unveiled Craft, its first image generation model, built from scratch by its in-house lab Canva Research. The company says DesignArena rankings make it "the world's second most advanced AI lab for image generation." It produces 2K images in any aspect ratio and is available through an API.
Read more at Passionate In Marketing →
Bloomreach has launched external segments, bringing audiences from any data warehouse, CDP or reverse ETL tool into its platform as ready-to-use segments without copying data. Its AI, Loomi, then acts on them. The release frames martech as consolidating "into closed systems" and Bloomreach as open.
Read more at morningstar.com →
Azoma and Opply, both from London, raised $11.2 million and $7.5 million in October, and New York's Profound raised $180 million in September, FoodNavigator reports. Their tools target AI-driven product discovery, marketing and procurement, with CPG companies among their customers. Shopping assistants now have marketers.
Read more at foodnavigator.com →Aurora Mobile's EngageLab has launched Agent Email, which lets AI agents receive and answer inbound customer email with full context, keep replies threaded in Gmail and Outlook, and write intent signals back into the CRM. Customers replying to marketing emails may now reach a robot that read them.
Read more at MarTech Cube →Aisle has launched Tasks, letting CPG brands send jobs such as shelf audits or display checks to shoppers already in stores, from a network of over 4.4 million. Brands set the price and shoppers complete the work. The company says this replaces hiring a national merchandising agency.
Read more at MarTech Cube →Acoustic says it has been named a SPARK Leader in the QKS Group SPARK Matrix for Multichannel Marketing Hubs, Q4 2026, citing its "behavior-first architecture" and agentic AI. The announcement came from Acoustic. Vendor rankings remain the most cited form of literature in martech.
Read more at manilatimes.net →A TopRank Marketing and Ascend2 survey of 424 B2B marketers found 46% rate their influencer programme very effective. Among those, 72% use an always-on strategy and 73% have a fully documented one. Writing the plan down, it seems, still works.
Read more at marketingprofs.com →Marketing Week argues that marketers who think carefully about what they measure, and use judgement on what matters, will drive growth. It points to Moneyball, in which the Oakland Athletics, with one of baseball's smallest budgets, asked which statistics actually predict winning.
Read more at marketingweek.com →Next-generation marketing technology is shifting from reporting what happened to recommending what should happen next, MarTech Cube argues, combining customer data, predictive analytics, AI and real-time orchestration. The question, it says, is no longer whether to use AI but how intelligently.
Read more at MarTech Cube →Marketing and brand roles checked today. Every listing links to the original posting. Nobody is checking your engagement rate.
Marketing festivals and meetups coming up, each checked against its own page this morning. Business cards are optional. Opinions seem to be required.
It sits on your phone like an app and has never once asked for an update.
iPhone
Social Media and Creators
Indian creators launch their own brands, from sarees to furniture
Mint
Content creators are moving beyond paid brand deals to start consumer businesses, Mint reports. Lifestyle creators Shivani Manchekar and Yash Mathadhikari launched saree brand Padmora on 11 October with about Rs 15 lakh of savings, and the first stock sold out within three days.
Read more at Mint →Amazon lets Indian creators tag its products on YouTube and Pinterest
netinfluencer.com
Eligible Indian creators can now tag Amazon products directly on YouTube and Pinterest and earn commissions. The Amazon Influencer Program has grown to 2 lakh creators, doubling year over year, and helped close to 40 million customers shop on Amazon.in this year, the company says.
Read more at netinfluencer.com →Mastercard and MrBeast plan co-branded cards
fintechnews.sg
Mastercard has partnered with Beast Industries, founded by MrBeast, on consumer and creator co-branded cards, benefits and Priceless experiences, plus tools to help creators build "long-term financial stability." A card linked to MrBeast will, presumably, not be giving away the money.
Read more at fintechnews.sg →YouTube tests bonus pay for creators who post Shorts regularly
routenote.com
YouTube is testing a bonus programme with selected creators that pays a minimum monthly amount for keeping a consistent Shorts upload schedule, plus extra based on performance. It has suggested expanding such opportunities through 2027. Consistency, finally, has a rate card.
Read more at routenote.com →YouTube says microdramas passed 6.5 billion views in six months
blog.youtube
Microdramas on YouTube passed 6.5 billion views in the first half of 2026, the company says. Asia-Pacific creators are writing multi-part vertical dramas in 60-second scenes, using multi-language audio and AI subtitles so a series shot in Seoul can find viewers in Brazil. The cliffhanger lasts a minute.
Read more at blog.youtube →Instagram lets creators turn live streams into ads
mediapost.com
Instagram now lets creators boost a live video into an ad while they are streaming, across Feed, Stories and Reels. The company recommends scheduling the ad "at least two hours before you go live" to reduce delivery delays. Spontaneity now needs two hours' notice.
Read more at mediapost.com →MLB invites more than 200 influencers to the postseason
marketingbrew.com
Major League Baseball is inviting more than 200 influencers to postseason games and expects their content to draw over 100 million views, months after the USTA faced backlash over influencers at the US Open. MLB wants people "who we know will be respectful of the rules."
Read more at marketingbrew.com →TagMango and ClickFunnels launch a live platform to get creators off the algorithm
Storyboard18
Creator monetisation company TagMango and US-based ClickFunnels have launched Backstage Pass, a live-first platform for creators to earn directly from audiences outside social media. It starts in the US before India, aiming for over 1,000 creators in six months. Escaping the algorithm begins with a funnel.
Read more at Storyboard18 →AnyMind offers creators Content ID based rights management on YouTube
anymindgroup.com
AnyMind Group has introduced Rights Management, which uses YouTube Content ID to find reuploads of a creator's videos and lets them monetise, block or track each match. AnyMind, a YouTube Certified Partner, says manual tracking is hard and monetisation chances go unnoticed.
Read more at anymindgroup.com →An AI-generated character runs one of Instagram's biggest meme accounts
IOL
Jean Philanthrope, a French character behind some of Instagram's most viral videos with at least 12 Reels above a million views, is entirely AI-generated, though a human runs the account. The account promotes a memecoin called $JEANPHIL. The handlebar moustache is also not real.
Read more at IOL →DinoBars turns an edible wrapper into a creator marketing hook
influencermarketinghub.com
DinoBars covers its fruit bars in a thin layer of edible paper, and parents on TikTok keep stopping to show it off and explain it, Influencer Marketing Hub reports. The family business was founded in 2020 by Jessica and Ian Saultz. The packaging is the product demo.
Read more at influencermarketinghub.com →Snapchat's Inner Circle campaign targets Gen Z festive shopping
brandequity.economictimes.indiatimes.com
Snapchat's Inner Circle campaign focuses on the peer recommendations that sway Gen Z during festive shopping, with brands including Myntra, Instamart and Nykaa. It runs across digital platforms and outdoor activations in cities such as Mumbai and Delhi NCR. The friend group chat remains the most trusted media channel.
Read more at brandequity.economictimes.indiatimes.com →Pew finds more than half of US adults get news from social media
Social Media Today
A new Pew report found that the share of Americans who use apps to stay connected to current events has risen sharply over the last four years, with more than half of US adults now getting news from social media, Social Media Today reports.
Read more at Social Media Today →