Ad Campaigns
TheSmallBigIdea hijacks Christmas celebrations with #MerryChristmasTakeover
Mumbai: In a groundbreaking marketing move, TheSmallBigIdea’s film marketing division took Christmas branding in cities nationwide by storm to promote the anticipated film starring Katrina Kaif and Vijay Sethupathi, titled ‘Merry Christmas.’ The team employed unconventional guerrilla marketing tactics, with volunteers strategically placing themselves under many ‘Merry Christmas’ branding in the city. Armed with placards displaying the movie’s release date, the #MerryChristmasTakeover, on the ground campaign caught the attention of passersby and created a buzz around the film.
Taking the promotion to the digital realm, the Instagram handle of Tips Films orchestrated a social media takeover by hijacking posts from other brands. Leveraging the generic holiday wishes of ‘Merry Christmas’, the film seamlessly integrated itself into the festive narrative, creating a unique and engaging promotional strategy. This innovative approach not only utilized physical media assets around the city but also extended its reach to the digital medium, ensuring maximum visibility for the film.
Moreover, as the world shared their Christmas party moments on social media, Team Merry Christmas joined in the fun. Leveraging the power of AI, TheSmallBigIdea infused playful elements from the movie, such as teddy bears and origami, into twisted party pictures featuring the movie’s cast, resulting in a celebration that seamlessly blended the joy of Christmas with the excitement of the upcoming thriller.
Commenting on the campaign, TheSmallBigIdea director – key accounts Sanmesh Sapkal said, “Our goal was to turn the unconventional release timing of Merry Christmas into a marketing advantage. By hijacking the festive season, we not only created buzz but also made the film an integral part of the Christmas celebration. It’s about thinking outside the box and creating memorable experiences for our audiences.”
TheSmallBigIdea’s film marketing division has been the digital marketing partner for most films in the Hindi film industry. In 2023, the digital marketing agency executed innovative campaigns for films like Rocky Aur Rani Kii Prem Kahani, Tu Jhoothi Main Makkaar, and Bholaa among others. With a diverse client mix, they seamlessly balance work for traditional, technology, and entertainment sectors, creating synergies that enhance their overall impact.
On-ground Takeover
Mumbai
Bengaluru
Kolkata
Ahmedabad
Chennai
Delhi
Social Takeover
https://www.instagram.com/s/aGlnaGxpZ2h0OjE3OTQ0OTYyODIxNzU0NjYy?igsh=d2FuOHE3MHFpc2hr
AI Assets
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.
