India, July 11 -- Last Sunday, the pharmaceutical firm Mankind, splashed the ad for its condom brand Manforce on the front page of newspapers with the line "Smell this ad to enjoy the scent of love" with readers getting whiffs of fragrance from their daily. Earlier, Samsung promoted its mobile phone Galaxy S25 Ultra in newspaper ads with a QR code enabling readers to scan and experience the AI-powered product. Recently, two other buzzy print ads by Instamart and Flipkart Minutes used special inks - one which changed colour under sunlight and another which was water-activated. The recent spate of print media ads has been innovative, interactive and engaging, thanks to increased availability and affordability of technology, said Mona Jain, media specialist and chief growth officer at research firm Brandpulse Global. "Newspapers have reach and relevance. They are physical products that can be felt and new tech is adding interactivity to an otherwise passive medium," she said. Print's reach may be declining, but it offers trust, tangibility, and deep engagement, said Lalatendu Das, CEO, Publicis Media, South Asia. Print ads continue to evolve. "By blending sensory appeal with storytelling, brands are finding fresh ways to connect with audiences through a traditionally static medium," Das said. Investment in innovative print ads is seen as convergence of multiple trends by Sideways Consulting's senior strategy director Siddharth Mohanty. "Despite declining reach, print offers a kind of seriousness that's hard to replicate elsewhere. When an ad appears in a newspaper, it sits in a context of headlines, editorials, and announcements. That changes how it's perceived. It feels more credible, official and public," Mohanty said. "The sudden burst of creativity is most likely a consequence of a mindset shift that's been on for a while. Use print less often, but more thoughtfully. And treat it like a stage," he added. That's where innovations like QR codes, embedded scents and colour-changing inks come in as tools to help stretch the impact. It increases the odds of it being photographed, shared, or discussed, Mohanty said. Cheil India's senior executive creative director Sudhir Das who worked on the Samsung Galaxy's QR-code enabled newspaper campaign agreed that print lends legitimacy and stature. "The intention was to create something for print to be shared on social media," he said. A Pitch Madison Advertising report in February said print media ad expenditure grew 5% in 2024 to touch Rs 20,272 crore. It is projected to grow 7% in 2025. However, the Ficci-EY media report estimates are conservative. Print advertising remained flat in 2024 and will grow at 2% up until 2027, it said. It added that print is still used to reach affluent audiences by companies and brands in automobiles, luxury products, phones, real estate and education. Brandpulse's Jain cautions against writing off print. Her research shows that recall for newspaper ads is higher than those on digital. "Also, the medium is more nuanced. Older age cohorts -- people over 45 - do not like missing their dailies. In tier 2 and tier 3 towns, vernacular print and TV is still being consumed," she said. Though media is mostly compared by volume and reach, print matters where people still believe in it, said Mohanty. Its relevance depends not just on category or geography but on how your audience assigns value to what they read, and where. "And that perception shapes how the message lands. A launch feels more official. A brand feels more established. A service feels more legitimate," he added. It's true that the digital medium offers freedom and real-time customisation of ads. "You can tailor your message by region, dialect, subculture, or moment. You can speak to niches and improvise. That's the real creative upside," Mohanty said. But the competition is intense and comes not just from other ads but from people with sharp, funny, opinionated voices who know how to tell a story, Mohanty argued. "That's what makes standing out on digital so difficult," he said. Jain mentioned the digital ad clutter with irksome pop-ups and animation crawling on the screen. In Lalatendu Das' view, TV continues to provide mass reach though lacks sharper targeting of audiences, digital allows dynamic targeting but faces clutter, privacy concerns, and short attention spans. Print complements television and digital by offering a credible and immersive brand experience in a fragmented media environment, he said....