Ad Campaigns
Hennessy debuts Ridley Scott-directed short film
MUMBAI: Hennessy has released a short film by legendary director Ridley Scott who visualises the odyssey experienced in every sip of Hennessy X.O. The campaign was created by the advertising agency DDB Paris, creative partner of Hennessy. A 60-second version of the film was premiered in the US during The 91st Oscars airing 24 February on ABC.
Complementing the idea that “Each drop of Hennessy X.O. is an Odyssey,” the Oscar® nominated director of the films The Martian and Gladiator as well as cult films Alien and Blade Runner, creates a visual journey that explores the seven flavor profiles in a surreal, sensorial and immersive narrative. The film is a creative interpretation of each of the seven tasting notes, described by Hennessy’s Comité de Dégustation as illustrations of Hennessy X.O’s taste and feel: Sweet Notes, Rising Heat, Spicy Edge, Flowing Flame, Chocolate Lull, Wood Crunches; culminating in Infinite Echo.
“I was attracted to this project because I was inspired by the potential for art and entertainment to bring this story to life,” said Ridley Scott. “Hennessy has a great product, and I was lucky enough to have the freedom to interpret this and create something amazing. I think people will be stunned when they see the film."
‘The Seven Worlds' production team includes global leaders in visual effects, Moving Picture Company (MPC), who previously collaborated with Scott on the films Alien, The Martian as well as Blade Runner and reunite with the director to design ‘out of this world’ effects through CGI. Composer Daniel Pemberton, who previously worked on Scott's film All the Money in the World and The Counselor, created a unique and unexpected score perfectly complimenting the director’s vision of Hennessy X.O. Scott’s production company RSA Films produced the film.
"It is an honour for Hennessy to partner with a visionary like Ridley Scott," said Hennessy global CMO Michael Aidan. "This film showcases Ridley's artistic genius conveying the essence of Hennessy X.O through entertainment that transcends traditional advertising."
“When we embarked on this adventure, we dreamed of creating a film that is truly different. But even in our wildest dreams, we did not imagine we would be going to so many incredible new worlds. Together with Hennessy and Ridley Scott, we hope to have achieved a new benchmark in advertising,” says Alexander Kalchev, executive creative director at DDB Paris
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.
