At the 2026 edition of the IAA India Chapter’s Leadership Awards, Bollywood actor Sidharth Malhotra emerged as the Brand Endorser of the Year. Over the years, some of the ads he has been part of include, MyGlamm, Coca-Cola, Pepe Jeans India, Movado, Dabur Réal Fizzin, Sporto by Amul Macho, Oppo and others.
When asked about how has been consistently chosen over the last several years by some of the world's biggest brands, would he like to give a message to them since the decision makers were all in one room tonight, Sidharth humorously stated, “Ye dil maangei more. Meri bahut saari categories khali hai isiliyei mainei aaj shirt bhi nahi pehni hai. Jootei se leke shirts, hair gel (I still have a lot of categories left, like I haven't even worn a shirt today for that reason. So from shirts to shoes to hair gels) there's so much of me I would want much more of. So, all you guys, this is a pitch right here. I would leave my phone manager’s phone number very soon on this board.” Siddharth had received the award from Abhishek Karnani, President, IAA India Chapter.
Siddharth also shared an interesting snippet, talking about how when he started doing ads, his family was under the impression that it meant he would have shares of that company and they could get huge discounts too.
Some of the other winners from the evening were Babita Baruah, CEO, VML India (Creative Leader of the Year), Kartik Sharma, group CEO, Omnicom Media Group India (Media Leader of the Year), Neeraj Roy, founder and CEO, Hungama Digital Media (Inducted into the Hall of Fame), Dilip Shanghvi, managing director, Sun Pharmaceutical Industries (Business Leader of the Year), Sam Balsara, chairperson, Madison World (Force for Good' award) and Rahul Kanwal, CEO, and editor-in-chief, NDTV (Media Person of the Year).
