Brands
Sweet sleighs and sugar highs as Sweet Truth bakes up Christmas cheer
MUMBAI: If Christmas had a flavour this year, it would probably taste like chocolate, cream and a generous slice of theatre. Sweet Truth, the dessert brand from Rebel Foods, has kicked off its festive campaign, Sweeten The Season 25, blending seasonal indulgence with a playful storytelling twist that goes beyond the box. Known for its Western dessert repertoire, the brand is leaning into Christmas not just as a menu moment, but as an experience designed to travel from kitchens to screens and straight into inboxes.
The festive spread rolls out across more than 350 locations nationwide and brings together a familiar mix of comfort and celebration. The line-up includes a classic Plum Cake, a Red Velvet Yule Log dressed for the season, a rich Chocolate Yule Log, a creamy Tiramisu Cake and a Triple Chocolate Mousse Cake aimed squarely at unabashed chocolate loyalists. The idea is simple: desserts that feel familiar enough to share, yet festive enough to mark the occasion.
What sets the campaign apart, however, is Santa stepping out of folklore and into the feed. As part of the activation, Santa makes appearances across Sweet Truth’s social platforms, reading customer messages, replying to DMs and popping up in playful behind-the-scenes content. Every order arrives with a letter from Santa, inviting customers to write back with a wish, whether whimsical, heartfelt or dessert-related.
Rebel Foods CMO Nishant Kedia says the intention was to go beyond seasonal sales and create something more personal. The campaign, he notes, is built around memory-making rather than just menu drops, with Santa positioned as a character who shows up not only in stories but also in kitchens and conversations.
The response has already taken shape in the form of letters pouring in from customers, sharing everything from everyday joys to long-held hopes. Sweet Truth plans to keep collecting these messages through the season, capturing moments, acknowledging wishes and spotlighting select stories as the campaign unfolds.
On December 25, the brand will release a ‘Wishes Granted’ list, revealing the surprises Santa delivered along the way. Adding another layer to the experience is a ‘Santa’s Sweet Office’ geotag on Google Maps, inviting users to virtually drop in, leave a wish and follow the festive trail online.
In a season crowded with offers and ornaments, Sweet Truth’s Christmas play leans on something simpler: a bit of imagination, a lot of sugar, and the reminder that sometimes, the sweetest part of the season is being invited into the story.
Brands
Samsung certifies 1,000 Maharashtra students in AI and coding
The South Korean electronics giant marks its first large-scale skilling push in the state, with women making up nearly half the national programme’s enrolment
PUNE: Samsung has put 1,000 students in Maharashtra through a certified training programme in artificial intelligence and coding, the largest such drive the South Korean electronics company has run in the state and a signal that corporate India’s skilling ambitions are moving well beyond the boardroom brochure.
The certifications were awarded under Samsung Innovation Campus (SIC), the company’s flagship corporate social responsibility programme, which launched in India in 2022 with the stated aim of democratising access to future-technology education. The 1,000 graduates were drawn from four institutions: 127 from Savitribai Phule Pune University, 373 from Pimpri Chinchwad University, 250 from D.Y. Patil University’s Ramrao Adik Institute of Technology and 250 from Anjuman-I-Islam’s Kalsekar Technical Campus. All completed training in either AI or coding and programming, the two disciplines Samsung has identified as the critical pillars of the digital economy.
The programme does not stop at technical training. Soft-skills development and career-readiness modules are baked into the curriculum, a deliberate attempt to close the gap between what universities teach and what employers actually want.
“India’s digital growth story will ultimately be shaped by the quality of its talent pipeline,” said Shubham Mukherjee, head of CSR and corporate communications at Samsung Southwest Asia. “As technologies like AI move from the periphery to the core of industries, skilling must evolve from basic training to building real-world capability. This milestone in Maharashtra reflects how industry and academia can come together to create a future-ready workforce that is both globally competitive and locally relevant.”
The Maharashtra drive sits within a rapidly scaling national effort. Samsung Innovation Campus trained 20,000 young people across India in 2025, hitting its stated target for the year. Women account for 48 per cent of national enrolments, a figure the company cites as evidence of its push for an inclusive technology ecosystem. The programme is implemented in partnership with the Electronics Sector Skills Council of India and the Telecom Sector Skill Council.
Samsung, which is marking 30 years in India this year, runs SIC alongside two other initiatives, Samsung Solve for Tomorrow and Samsung DOST, as part of a broader effort to build what it calls a generation of innovators with both the technical depth and the problem-solving mindset to thrive in a fast-moving digital world.
A thousand certified students is a tidy headline. Whether they find jobs that match their new skills is the harder question, and the one that will ultimately determine whether corporate skilling programmes like this one are genuine pipelines or well-photographed gestures.
