Play beyond
the aisle.
Three campaigns that made a toy brand part of grown-up gifting, shared memories and a football invitation.
A world made for play.One brand.
Three ways into play.
Hamleys wanted to mean more than a toy aisle for children. Each campaign gave a particular audience a new reason to choose it.
What we changed
Start with the relationship or occasion, then carry the idea through creators, production and the next real-world moment.
Valentine’s Day / Unfollow the Script
A new answer to
“What should I gift?”
- The brief
- Make Hamleys a gifting destination for 18–30-year-olds, beyond toys for children.
- The insight
- Valentine’s gifting had a familiar script. A toy could say something more personal: we still know how to play together.
- The execution
- Creators Ankita Sahigal and Shibani Bedi made off-script gifting familiar. The Hamleys bear’s free hugs took that warmth into malls.
Historical public post counts observed 5 October 2026. Views are lifetime views, not unique people or organic-only reach. Rakhi figures are likes. Follower growth is client-supplied.
Football / Pass the Ball
One ball.
An invitation to India.
- The brief
- Introduce Hamleys’ officially licensed FIFA World Cup 26™ range across India.
- The insight
- Footballers and freestylers could connect different places and ways to play, with one ball carrying the invitation.
- The execution
- A vertical film links the players and places, ending at a football party in Hamleys. The merchandise becomes the destination in the story.
Historical public post counts observed 5 October 2026. Views are lifetime views, not unique people or organic-only reach. Rakhi figures are likes. Follower growth is client-supplied.
Raksha Bandhan / Shared childhood
Gift the childhood
you share.
- The brief
- Make Hamleys a Rakhi gifting destination for 18–30-year-olds, beyond predictable presents.
- The insight
- Siblings share a childhood no one else has. A playful gift can bring those memories into the present.
- The execution
- Collaborations with Rohit Saraf and Dolly Singh turn familiar sibling habits into gifting stories. Thrudaruf handled the shoot and edit in-house.
Historical public post counts observed 5 October 2026. Views are lifetime views, not unique people or organic-only reach. Rakhi figures are likes. Follower growth is client-supplied.
A toy can be a gift.
A memory. An invitation.
The product stays at the heart of the story, while the reason to choose it changes with the occasion.
Three campaign ideas. Three distinct audience contexts.An idea needs a job
at every step.
A creator collaboration, a film and a store activation should be parts of one thought.
What we changed
Build the brief around the audience’s motivation, then make each execution carry that idea forward.
Gifting, sibling memories or a shared football moment.
An idea that makes the product belong in that occasion.
Creators, films and activations with distinct roles.
Carry the thought through the finished execution.
Three stories.
New reasons to play.
Creators, films and activations gave Hamleys a place in three different moments: a romantic gift, a football celebration and a shared childhood.
The outcome
Each campaign carried its own audience thought from the first idea to the finished execution.
The work, out in the world
57.3 million
and counting.
The football film, as seen on Instagram.
Watch the collaboration ↗Source, dates and what these numbers mean
Source: Hamleys India case-study deck. Public lifetime Instagram views and likes were observed 5 October 2026. The football hero’s 57.3M view count was rechecked on the collaborator’s public Reels grid on 3 November 2026; the cropped tile above is the actual Instagram capture. Follower gains and the Valentine audience breakdown were supplied by the client. Counts belong to the individual linked posts; views are not unique people and are not claimed as organic-only. No sales impact or combined campaign total is asserted.
Recognise the problem?