Danone, Hindustan Unilever, Haleon and Godrej Consumer Products led the ranks for the most creative and effective ads from India in 2024, according to Kantar’s 2025 Creative Effectiveness Awards in India. The awards recognises ad campaigns that not only captured consumer attention but drove measurable business results. Based on over 1,350 consumer-tested creatives in India last year, the report names top performers rooted in cultural nuance and emotional storytelling.

Key takeaways from Kantar’s 5-year review of creative effectiveness in India:

Culture is the comfort food: Like dal, great Indian advertising is familiar, emotional and deeply rooted in memory and meaning. The ‘tadka’ (the creative spark) is what brings it alive.

Moments matter: The most effective ads are built not just on broad cultural insights, but on tiny, instantly relatable slices of life- a festival ritual, a turn of phrase or a rainy train platform. Several standout ads creatively reimagined cultural themes, from Pond’s emotional twist on a Bollywood classic to Godrej Fab’s bold use of political satire and Nihar’s challenge to grooming stereotypes. Brands like Amazon, Meesho, Red Label and others tapped into evolving family dynamics, Indian quirks and category-specific cultural moments to deliver resonant storytelling.

Execution is key: Music, idioms, humour, and casting — quintessential Indian storytelling tools elevate the emotional connect and memorability of a campaign

Speak to a multilingual India: This cultural lens is especially powerful in unlocking growth in non-Hindi speaking regions. By anchoring storytelling in regionally relevant moments rather than relying solely on language, brands can achieve stronger resonance and response across India’s diverse linguistic and cultural landscape.

Influencers as impact multipliers:
- Influencer content holds attention significantly longer, delivering an average skip time 2.2 times better than traditional branded content, meaning viewers are more likely to stay engaged.
-  It also proves more effective at building brand salience, with an average impact percentile score of 58, compared to ads on digital platform, marking it as highly impactful in today’s attention economy.

The big idea: Great storytelling doesn’t invent culture but tunes into it, then serves it with thought and flavour.

Prasanna Kumar, head of creative domain, insights division, Kantar, noted: ““The patterns we uncovered over five years show us what resonates deeply- stories rooted in culture, sparked by creativity and rich in emotional truth. But to turn resonance into results, brands need more than instinct. That’s where Kantar LINK comes in, bringing the voice of the consumer, the ultimate stakeholder, into the creative process. It’s how we combine cultural insight with evidence and transform storytelling into effectiveness. It is not just validating the creative idea but about developing an understanding of the finer execution elements that are crucial in amplifying impact.”

Soumya Mohanty, managing director and chief client officer – South Asia, insights division, Kantar, added, “As we celebrate five years of the Creative Effectiveness Awards in India, it’s clear that creative evaluation has shifted from a checkpoint to a true growth driver. With content tailored for varied platforms and audiences, Kantar LINK helps brands test and optimise creative across formats- from TVCs and digital films to influencer collaborations. While influencer content drives short-term attention and sales, its full potential emerges when crafted with precision. Powered by the world’s largest creative intelligence database that’s built on consumer-tested ads, analytics, and decades of insight, LINK enables marketers to move from guesswork to great work. This year’s winning campaigns from Danone, Hindustan Unilever, Haleon, and Godrej show exactly that- how culturally rooted, emotionally resonant storytelling drives real business impact.”