MAM
Merkle Sokrati achieves unique feat on YouTube for Performance
MUMBAI: Merkle Sokrati, the data-driven performance-marketing agency from Dentsu Aegis Network, has been recognized for its achievement on YouTube for Performance reaching a 100% client adoption rate.
Over the last few years, YouTube has emerged as a strong performance platform, with the launch of several new formats including TrueView and Universal App Campaigns (UAC). TrueView for Action uses prominent Calls To Actions (CTAs) and headlines, encouraging audiences to visit websites and explore the product or service, share their contact information, and take other actions valuable to the business. Through machine learning, UAC provides a simple and easy solution to reach the right audience across all of Google’s channels. Google can combine signals, data, and performance metrics to automatically make adjustments to campaigns quickly, and take advantage of buying opportunities.
During the last four months, Google India and Merkle Sokrati combined efforts to accelerate adoption of YouTube for Action in the Indian market. Anubhav Sonthalia, CEO Merkle Sokrati added, “We are committed as always to lead the way in incorporating any innovation that can help our customers. Over the last year, we have seen YouTube emerge as a strong performance platform. As the leading performance agency in the country, we wanted to ensure that all our clients are leveraging the full power of innovative formats like TrueView for Performance, and we are excited to see 100% of our clients are already betting on this format.”
Commenting on this, Aditya Swamy, Head of Agency Partnerships, Google India said, “We collaborated closely with the Merkle Sokrati team to set up integrated client onboarding with custom performance creatives from IgnitionLabs using the Search-Up approach, and bespoke measurement solutions. It’s exciting to see the speed at which Merkle Sokrati’s clients have adopted YouTube for Performance, and I am looking forward to seeing our teams redefining performance video advertising excellence.”
Merkle Sokrati was also recently awarded the Google Premier Partner Award 2018 for Video Innovation.
MAM
Lego brings Messi, Ronaldo, Mbappé, Vinicius together
Campaign clocks 314 million views ahead of FIFA World Cup 2026 buzz.
MUMBAI: Four legends, one frame and not a single tackle in sight. Lego has pulled off a crossover few thought possible, uniting Lionel Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo, Kylian Mbappé and Vinícius Júnior in a single campaign ahead of the FIFA World Cup 2026 only this time, they’re building dreams brick by brick.
Titled “Everyone wants a piece”, the campaign features the quartet assembling a Lego version of the World Cup trophy, before placing miniature versions of themselves atop it, a playful nod to football’s ultimate prize. Shared widely across social media, the ad carries a pointed disclaimer: it is not AI-generated, a subtle but telling signal in an era where even reality is often questioned.
The numbers tell their own story. The campaign has already crossed 314 million views on Instagram across the players’ accounts, with fans hailing it as a rare, almost nostalgic moment particularly for the reunion of Messi and Ronaldo, whose last shared campaign ahead of the 2022 World Cup became one of the platform’s most-liked posts.
Beyond the film, Lego is extending the play with exclusive, player-themed sets tied to each of the four stars, part of a broader football-led programme designed to ride the global momentum building towards 2026. The idea, as echoed by the players themselves, leans into the parallels between football and play experimentation, creativity, failure, and triumph.
Messi described the sets as a way to bring on-pitch moments into an imaginative, hands-on world, while Ronaldo called the transformation into a Lego figure a rare honour, blending sport with storytelling. Vinícius, meanwhile, struck a more personal note, recalling childhood moments of building with Lego and framing creativity as a universal language that transcends borders.
The timing is no accident. With the 2026 World Cup set to run from June 11 to July 19 across the United States, Canada and Mexico, and featuring an expanded 48-team format, global anticipation is already building. Argentina, led by Messi, will enter as defending champions, adding another layer of intrigue.
For Lego, the campaign does more than celebrate football, it taps into its mythology. Because when icons become figurines and rivalries turn into play, the beautiful game finds a new kind of pitch. one built, quite literally, by hand.
