Danone, Hindustan Unilever, Haleon and Godrej Consumer Products shine at Kantar India’s Creative Effectiveness Awards
The top-performing brands this year include Godrej Consumer Products, Hindustan Unilever, Haleon and Danone, with creative agencies such as Ogilvy, FCB and Godrej Lightbox behind some of the most celebrated work.
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Kantar has unveiled the winners of the Creative Effectiveness Awards India 2025, recognising India’s most impactful and resonant advertising campaigns of the past year. In 2024 alone, Kantar tested over 12,000 ads globally, including 1,350 in India. More than 200 standout campaigns were identified across diverse categories, platforms, and audience segments.
The top-performing brands this year include Godrej Consumer Products, Hindustan Unilever, Haleon and Danone, with creative agencies such as Ogilvy, FCB and Godrej Lightbox behind some of the most celebrated work. Among the winning campaigns were Godrej’s GoodKnight LV Power Cut (TV), Haleon’s ENO 3 in 1 Sangeet (TV), Horlicks' School Ready by HUL (TV), Danone’s Protinex – Strength Apne Liye, Apno Ke Liye (TV - Unstereotype) and HUL’s Taj Mahal – Kona (Digital).
Soumya Mohanty, Managing Director & Chief Client Officer- South Asia, Insights Division, Kantar said, “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 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.”
To mark five years of the awards in India, Kantar also introduced a new creative effectiveness framework distilled from its extensive database and insights: “Culture is the Context. Creativity is the Catalyst. Impact is the Outcome.” This framework reflects the enduring elements of successful advertising. Campaigns that have resonated most consistently over five years are those rooted in familiar cultural truths, powered by storytelling that is emotional, authentic, and reflective of evolving consumer realities.
Key learnings include the idea that culture functions like comfort food—familiar, emotional and grounded in memory, while creativity is the ‘tadka’ that brings the story to life. Effective ads are often built around micro-moments, instantly relatable scenes from daily life that deepen emotional connection. Executional finesse, such as the use of idioms, humour, music, and relatable casting, also plays a critical role in memorability.
Importantly, the report underscores the power of regional relevance in India’s multilingual landscape. Campaigns that reflect cultural nuance, rather than merely translating language, tend to perform better across diverse geographies. Influencer content was also found to be a key attention driver, with skip times over 2.2 times better than traditional branded content and stronger brand salience.
Prasanna Kumar, Head of Creative Domain, Insights Division, Kantar added, “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 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.”
