Ayushmann Khurrana turns 42: Inside his brand endorsement play

As Ayushmann Khurrana turns 42, his advertising portfolio offers an interesting look at how a celebrity’s persona can become part of a brand’s creative language. Over the years, Khurrana has moved across categories ranging from paints and mattresses to digital payments, travel, fashion and retail, with brands often leaning on his boy-next-door image, humour and relatability.

The actor, singer, television host and performer known for choosing unconventional roles and building a distinct identity in Hindi cinema. He began his career as a radio jockey and television presenter before making his acting debut with Vicky Donor in 2012, and has since featured in films such as Dum Laga Ke Haisha, Bareilly Ki Barfi, Shubh Mangal Saavdhan, Andhadhun, Badhaai Ho, Article 15, Dream Girl and Bala. Beyond films, Khurrana has also maintained a presence in music, advertising and brand endorsements, often positioning himself around themes of youth, individuality and socially relevant storytelling.

That positioning has also allowed advertisers to use him in different ways. Sometimes he is the familiar celebrity face of a product, while in other campaigns, his personality becomes the creative hook itself. From playing out everyday payment problems for Amazon Pay and turning travel into a running gag for Agoda, to appearing as his younger self through AI for Wakefit and fronting a watch campaign built around personal style, Khurrana’s recent advertising work reflects the breadth of his appeal.

Here are some of the campaigns that stand out:

Agoda: Making travel part of the persona

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Ayushmann Khurrana (@ayushmannk)

Khurrana’s association with Agoda has extended across multiple campaigns since he became the travel platform’s India brand ambassador in 2023. One of the early campaigns, ‘See The World For Less’, featured him exchanging fridge magnets with his neighbour from the destinations he had travelled to. The campaign marked Agoda’s first television advertisement in India.

The association subsequently evolved into more technology-led advertising. Agoda’s AI-powered campaign featuring Khurrana created customised versions of its advertising for different locations, while a later campaign showed the actor talking about his travels through photographs and different accents. The 2024 campaign marked his third collaboration with Agoda.

Amazon Pay: ‘Pay Karne Ka Smarter Way’

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Ayushmann Khurrana (@ayushmannk)

For Amazon Pay, Khurrana became the face of a campaign built around situations that consumers encounter while making everyday payments. The ‘Pay Karne Ka Smarter Way’ campaign demonstrated features of Amazon Pay’s Scan & Pay service through scenarios such as payments in poorly lit parking areas, delayed transactions and payment failures at supermarket counters.

The campaign worked around a simple advertising device: take a familiar payment problem and let Khurrana demonstrate the smarter solution. It also played into the actor’s ability to make functional product communication feel conversational rather than instructional.

Wakefit: Ayushmann, but younger

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Wakefit (@wakefitco)

Wakefit took the celebrity-led advertising route a step further by using AI and computer graphics to create a younger version of Khurrana for its campaign. The brand used images of the actor with an age-progression tool and deep-learning programmes to construct a younger version of his face.

The creative idea connected better sleep with a renewed sense of energy. The younger Khurrana represented the energetic version of oneself that the brand associated with waking up well-rested. In doing so, the campaign did more than simply feature a celebrity. It made the celebrity himself part of the product story.

JSW Paints: From ‘Khoobsurat Soch’ to waterproofing

Khurrana’s association with JSW Paints is one of the longer-running relationships in his advertising portfolio. The actor was named a brand ambassador alongside Alia Bhatt in 2020, with the brand positioning the duo around its ‘Think Beautiful’ proposition.

The partnership has since travelled across multiple product and brand campaigns. In 2024, Khurrana featured in JSW Paints’ ‘Khoobsurat Soch’ campaign for its iBlok Waterstop range, where the film used humour and the idea of ‘blocking’ everyday irritants to communicate waterproofing.

He also appeared alongside Alia Bhatt in the brand’s later ‘Khoobsurat Soch’ campaign around self-expression and colours, with a soundtrack composed by Gulzar.

Nautica: A more aspirational Ayushmann

Nautica brought out a different side of Khurrana when it appointed him as its India brand ambassador in 2024. The association was built around the brand’s Spring Summer collection and its positioning around an adventurous lifestyle.

The 60-second digital film, ‘Adventure’s Spirit’, placed Khurrana against a seascape as he sailed, socialised and explored the collection. Unlike the everyday problem-solution format of his payment or home-category campaigns, the Nautica film leaned more heavily into fashion, lifestyle and aspiration.

The choice also reflected how his ‘boy-next-door’ image can coexist with a more premium fashion positioning.

Just In Time: Finding the right watch

One of Khurrana’s newest advertising associations is with omnichannel watch retailer Just In Time. The actor was signed as the brand ambassador in 2026 as the retailer expanded its presence in North India.

The latest campaign, ‘Watching Out For You’, takes the idea of choosing a watch beyond simply telling consumers about the product. The two-film campaign focuses on the personal nature of selecting a timepiece, with style, personality, occasion and individual preferences becoming part of the narrative. Khurrana becomes the bridge between the retailer’s large assortment and the more personal decision of finding the right watch.

The common thread

Across these campaigns, the recurring theme is not necessarily the categories themselves but Khurrana’s ability to move between them. A travel platform can use his curiosity and humour, a payments brand can use his relatability, a mattress brand can turn his identity into a creative device, while fashion and watch brands can lean into his style and aspirational side.

His advertising journey also mirrors the multi-hyphenate image he has built beyond cinema. An actor, singer and songwriter, Khurrana has cultivated a public persona that allows brands to use him across humour, music, lifestyle and everyday storytelling. His endorsement portfolio has consequently stretched across mass-market and premium categories, with brands such as Agoda, Wakefit, Amazon Pay, JSW Paints, Nautica and others using different facets of that persona.

For advertisers, perhaps the bigger proposition is the familiarity he brings without being restricted to a single category. The same face can sell a smarter payment, a holiday, a mattress, a paint solution, a summer collection or a watch, provided the creative idea finds the right version of Ayushmann Khurrana.