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Durex expands adolescent education program to transform 15 million lives

Published

3 years ago

March 28, 2023

Mumbai: Reckitt, the global leader in consumer-healthcare, has announced the expansion of The Durex Birds and Bees Talk programme (TBBT), which is directed towards the adolescents between the age group – 10 to 19 Years, in the states of Gujarat and New Delhi. In partnership with ASSOCHAM Foundation For Corporate Social Responsibility (AFCSR), the programme aims to reach 15 million adolescents this year across the two states. To mark the expansion, the programme has also launched its theme song – ‘Protected’ that focusses on five key pillars built within the curriculum – consent, equity, inclusion, awareness and protection.

The Durex Birds and Bees Talk programme released its first Social Return on Investment (SROI) Evaluation Study Report, highlighting that every one invested into the programme delivers 24.40 in social value. Led by Plan India and Reckitt, the programme has been implemented in six North East States (NES) of Arunachal Pradesh, Meghalaya, Manipur, Mizoram, Nagaland and Sikkim. Through offline and digital platforms, TBBT has reached four million youth till date across these states. Launched with the support of respective state governments, TBBT has a two-level interactive, animated curriculum that covers growing up and life skills, to promote the core principles of inclusion, awareness, consent, awareness and protection.

Reckitt South Asia executive vice president Gaurav Jain said, “At Reckitt, we are committed to helping adolescents as they encounter a range of life-changing experiences that necessitate coping and adaptation. Over the last three years, the Durex Birds and Bees Talk programme, implemented in partnership with Plan India across North-Eastern states, has been focussed on imparting growing up life skills to adolescents and youth. The programme yields a social value of 24.40 for every rupee invested, which is an indicator of the trust that the programme has generated among its stakeholders and promises the possibilities of greater heights to be achieved with a solid foundation. We are positive that our partnership with AFCSR will help us replicate the success of the programme in the states of Gujarat and New Delhi and educate students, as we target to achieve UN Sustainable Development Goals three (Good Health & Well-being), four (Quality Education), and 5 (Gender Equality).”

ASSOCHAM Foundation For Corporate Social Responsibility (AFCSR) secretary general, ASSOCHAM & trustee Deepak Sood said, “We are delighted to partner with Reckitt for one of their most successful programmes – The Durex Birds and Bees Talk and take it forward in various districts across Gujarat and New Delhi. As part of the programme, we aim to empower over 15Mn adolescents with the right knowledge of power, protection, and pleasure to ensure their health, well-being, and development. The programme will generate awareness amongst students about healthy behaviour, make informed decisions, knowledge about consent, and develop equity and inclusivity with the help of pop-cultural references, engaging with youth influencers and using technology for communication.”

Plan India executive director Mohammed Asif said, “Plan India has been working for more than two decades to improve sexual and reproductive health services and rights for all children, adolescent girls and young women and men in different parts of India. Our long-standing partnership with Reckitt has helped us create significant impact through the TBBT programme in the states of North-East. The programme has been successful in helping students in enhancing practices relating to safe hygiene and health and gaining a deeper understanding about body anatomy and physical changes experienced during puberty. We are happy to see the programme growing and hope to continue driving ground-level change with various partnerships.”

Key highlights from the report:

For every ₹1 invested in The Durex Birds and The Bees Talk Programme delivers 24.40 of social value
Through offline and digital platforms, TBBT has reached four million youth, 4000 teachers and more than 2000 schools till date.
Through digital activation, the programme has been able to reach out to 320 million people across the nation
83.85 percent increased ability among students to recognise and address gender roles and stereotypes
44.41 percent increased awareness about harmful effects and consequences of substance abuse among students
84.38 percent increased technical knowledge regarding growing up life skills curriculum in teachers
57.03 percent acceptance of students of other sexual orientations and gender identities
New Delhi & Guwahati became the top sources of conversations about the programme
TBBT programme has established a strong online and offline presence. Its efforts have resulted in the programme making an 87 percent increase in its reach over the year and positive sentiments ahead by 50 percent

Rahul Rajkhowa, one of the most written about artists from Northeast India for his music addressing social and environmental issues, has created the theme song for TBBT programme to help set a strong foundation for this initiative in the states of Gujarat and New Delhi. Music has been the best source of communication since the beginning of TBBT and the newly launched song shares the crucial message of acquiring the right knowledge of power, protection and pleasure to ensure healthy development and wellbeing. Rahul has successfully brought the right mix of youth lingo along with the programme messaging, paired with a catchy beat. The song has been launched on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram, and will be shared with key influencers to help reach the masses.

The Durex Birds and The Bees Talk Programme under Reckitt and Plan India is an innovative and pioneering initiative that has focused on inculcating growing up life skills for adolescents in the north-eastern region of India. Through its systematic intervention, the programme is encouraging conversations around sexual and reproductive health among adolescents, teachers, and their community members. Adolescent girls and boys in the country lack access to information on issues affecting their lives and have limited spaces to develop competencies crucial for their active participation. TBBT programme is addressing these challenges by imparting critical and age-appropriate information, promoting healthy and safe behaviour and practices, as well as equipping adolescents with life skills, values and attitudes to become responsible adults.

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Amazon Ads maps 2026 as AI and streaming rewrite ad playbooks

Published

2 months ago

January 15, 2026

indiantelevision.com Team

NATIONAL: Amazon Ads has laid out a sharply tech-led vision for the advertising industry in 2026, arguing that artificial intelligence, streaming TV and creator partnerships will combine to turn brand building into a more precise, performance-driven business.

At the heart of the shift, the company says, is the fusion of AI with Amazon’s vast trove of shopping, browsing and streaming signals, allowing advertisers to move beyond blunt reach metrics to campaigns designed around real customer behaviour.

“The future of advertising is not about reaching more people, but the right people with messages that resonate,” said Amazon Ads India head and vice president Girish Prabhu. “By combining AI with deep customer insights, we help brands move from broadcasting campaigns to having meaningful conversations wherever audiences spend their time.”

One of the biggest changes, according to Amazon Ads, will be the collapse of the wall between media planning and creative development. Retail media, powered by first-party data, is increasingly shaping everything from brand discovery to final purchase, pushing marketers to design campaigns around audience insight rather than internal instinct.

AI is also moving from a support tool to a creative engine. Agentic AI, which automates and accelerates production, is expected to make high-quality creative accessible even to small businesses, compressing weeks of work into hours and giving challengers the ability to compete with larger brands on speed and scale.

Behind the scenes, AI-driven analytics will take on a bigger role in campaign optimisation, identifying patterns, spotting opportunities and recommending actions that would previously have required teams of analysts.

Streaming TV is another big battleground. With India’s video streaming audience now above 600 million and connected TV users at 129.2 million in 2025, advertisers are set to treat streaming not just as a branding channel but as a performance engine, measured increasingly by sales, sign-ups and bookings rather than just reach.

Finally, Amazon Ads sees creators and contextual advertising reshaping how brands tell stories. Creators will act less like influencers and more like long-term partners, while scene-aware ads on streaming platforms will allow brands to insert hyper-relevant offers into the flow of what viewers are watching.

Taken together, Amazon Ads argues, these shifts mark a move towards advertising that is both more human and more measurable, where AI handles the complexity, and creativity does the persuading.

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Publicis India appoints Sonal Verma as Arc Worldwide MD

Published

2 months ago

January 15, 2026

indiantelevision.com Team

MUMBAI: Publicis Groupe India has appointed Sonal Verma as managing director of Arc Worldwide India, handing the reins of its experiential and shopper marketing business to a leader steeped in live brands and real world storytelling.

Arc Worldwide, the Groupe’s specialist arm focused on experiences that nudge consumers from curiosity to checkout, sits at the intersection of creativity, commerce and culture. Verma’s mandate is to sharpen that edge as brands grapple with shorter attention spans and more complicated buying journeys.

Verma joins from Cheil India, where she spent nearly five years building and leading the brand experience practice, most recently as senior vice president and head of brand experience. Her career reads like a tour of India’s experiential landscape, with leadership roles at Momentum Worldwide, Percept D Mark, Blockkbuster Events and Showtime Events.

She has also held senior activation roles at Radio City and The Times of India, giving her a rare mix of agency, media and on-ground execution experience. The common thread has been simple: turning big ideas into moments people remember and talk about.

At Arc Worldwide India, Verma will focus on expanding the agency’s experiential and shopper capabilities, strengthening client partnerships and keeping the work firmly rooted in consumer behaviour rather than buzzwords.

With Verma at the helm, Arc Worldwide is expected to double down on ideas that live beyond screens and closer to everyday life. For an industry obsessed with clicks and scrolls, this is a reminder that sometimes the strongest connections still happen face to face.

Ad Campaigns

Barbeque Nation taps ‘milne ki bhookh’ to kick off the new year

Published

2 months ago

December 29, 2025

indiantelevision.com Team

BENGALURU: Barbeque Nation is ringing in the new year with a reminder that some cravings cannot be ordered online. The casual dining chain has rolled out a new film campaign, milne ki bhookh, pitching its restaurants as places to meet, reconnect and linger over food.

Set against a world of constant messages and missed meet-ups, the campaign leans into a simple truth: dining out remains one of the few rituals that still brings people together. Barbeque Nation positions itself as the excuse and the setting for real conversations, shared plates and unhurried moments.

Nakul Gupta, cmo at Barbeque Nation, says the brand has long been about shared celebrations. As the year turns, milne ki bhookh captures what he calls a growing hunger to meet, connect and spend time together, with food at the centre of that experience.

Created by Makani Creatives, the campaign comprises three films built around Barbeque Nation’s signature grills and desserts. The storytelling is deliberately sensorial, designed to spark cravings while nudging diners to step out and meet in person.

Pavan Punjabi, chief integration officer at Makani Creatives, says the idea stems from a familiar contradiction. People are constantly connected, yet meetings with loved ones are endlessly postponed. Milne ki bhookh, he says, is a gentle push to make time for real-life catch-ups, using food as the reason to come together, share a meal and create memories.

The campaign breaks on December 25 with the grilled prawns film and will run for two months, amplified across digital platforms. As the new year begins, Barbeque Nation is betting that the strongest appetite of all is not for food alone, but for each other.