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Yellow / Social Media / Hamleys India
Hamleys

Hamleys India.

A world of play, shaped for India. The oldest toy shop in the world, brought into the rhythm of an Indian childhood.

Client
Hamleys India · Reliance Brands
Engagement
Since 2020
Footprint
130+ stores · 70+ cities
Scope
Retail, IP, celebrity, seasonal, content, OOH, promo
01 · The partnership

The world's oldest toy shop. Brought into the rhythm of an Indian childhood.

Hamleys opened on Regent Street in 1760. In India, under Reliance Brands, it became something different. A destination, not a shelf. A place a child asks to be taken to.

Yellow leads the social-led creative system across seven theatres of the brand, the retail experience and the wall art that lives inside the store, the IP pop-ups that turn a floor into the world a child has seen on screen, the celebrity campaigns that anchor the brand to families India recognises, the seasonal calendar of Indian celebrations, the AI and CGI films that keep the social grid alive, the OOH that pushes the work into the city, and the sale system that holds the brand line through every discount window.

What follows is the work, theatre by theatre.

Hamleys Play* · In-store mural Hamleys Play* wall art
02 · The body of work

Eight chapters. One brand.

01 · Retail & Store

The store as a destination.

Hamleys India is not a toy aisle. It is a place a child negotiates a weekend around. The wall art that turns a corner into a moment, the launch system that turns an opening into cultural news.

Hamleys Play*, wall art.

Mall of the Millennium · Pune

The Hamleys Play* activation programme. Custom wall art commissioned across the India estate, treated as architecture rather than signage.

Wall art 03Wall · 03
Wall art 04Wall · 04
Wall art 05Wall · 05
Wall art 06Wall · 06
Wall art 07Wall · 07

New store openings.

Launch films + city KVs

Each opening is built so the day reads as cultural news, not retail news. A launch reel for the social cascade, a campaign KV for the mall and the city.

Launch reels · 9:16
Phoenix Palladium · Lower Parel
Phoenix Marketcity · Kurla
Sky City Mall · Borivali
Opening-day KVs · 3:4
Palladium Lower ParelPalladium, Lower Parel
Phoenix Marketcity KurlaPhoenix Marketcity, Kurla
Sky City MallSky City Mall
Unity One DelhiUnity One, Delhi
RajkotRajkot
AVKAVK
02 · Pop-Ups & IP Worlds

Worlds, installed.

The IP pop-up is where Hamleys India does its sharpest work. Four ambitious builds, each shown exactly once.

Harry Potter Pop-Up.

Walkthrough films

A full Hogwarts build inside the store. Platform Nine-and-Three-Quarters, the wand chamber, the sorting moment. Treated as a destination across multiple cities.

HP · 01
HP · 02
HP · 03
HP · 04

Barbie Style Studio.

Walkthrough films

Built around the Mattel × cinema moment of 2023. A pink-coded studio space with styling stations, photo opportunities and product walls, translated into a play environment parents wanted to be photographed in alongside their children.

Barbie · 01
Barbie · 02
Barbie · 03
Barbie · 04
Barbie · 05
Barbie · 06

Jurassic World.

Films + installation stills

The biggest installation of the run. Dinosaur builds, jungle lighting, an entry sequence engineered as a gate.

Walkthrough reels · 9:16
Jurassic · 01
Jurassic · 02
Install stills · 3:4
Jurassic World 01Install · 01
Jurassic World 02Install · 02
Jurassic World 04Install · 03

Lilo & Stitch.

Walkthrough films

Disney IP installed as a tropical-blue takeover. Beach textures, character drops, themed product walls. The film's softness translated into a colour environment that read as Stitch the moment a child walked in.

Stitch · 01
Stitch · 02
Stitch · 03
03 · Celebrity · Karan Johar

The director, at home.

India's most-recognised filmmaker, his home staged as a fairground, his children cast as the protagonists. The Hamleys catalogue, written into a Sunday in a Bombay family of four.

Karan Johar · Main Film
Pre-buzz
Main · 9:16 cut
04 · Celebrity · Seher Bamba & Pavithralakshmi

Two faces, two audiences.

A Gen-Z gifter who actually buys what she gives; a South-India anchor for the Chennai-Bengaluru-Hyderabad gifting market. Same brand register, two distinct rhythms.

Seher Bamba
Pavithralakshmi
The Gen-Z gifter

Seher Bamba.

The cohort that buys for nieces, nephews and small cousins who actually pick what they want. A second face, a second rhythm, the same warmth.

The South-India anchor

Pavithralakshmi.

Chennai, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, treated as their own audiences, not a translation of the North. A regional face, a regional register, the parent-level warmth held.

01 · Celebrity Campaign
Karan Johar

The director, at home.

India's most-recognised filmmaker, his children cast as the protagonists. Hamleys written into a Sunday in a Bombay family of four.

02 · Christmas
Step Into The Magic

Christmas, as Hamleys does it.

The largest moment of the brand year. A film that turns the storefront into the start of a child's December.

03 · IP Pop-Up
Harry Potter

A wizarding world, installed.

An IP build delivered as a full retail environment, wand stations, sorting-hat queues, the staircase as theatre.

04 · IP Pop-Up
Barbie Style Studio

Pink, made structural.

The Barbie pop-up as a working style studio, the brand colour treated as architecture rather than dressing.

05 · AI & CGI
Stranger Things

A new generative film language.

AI used as a serious creative tool, not a novelty, narrative films that earn a place inside the brand's social grid.

06 · Retail Launch
Phoenix Palladium · Lower Parel

A new store, as cultural news.

Store openings treated as campaign moments, the launch system that turns a new address into a city headline.

Hamleys Play*, wall art editions
07 · In-Store
Hamleys Play*

Wall art, as the brand.

The in-store mural system, the moment a corner becomes a campaign, and the campaign becomes a photograph.

08 · Gen-Z Voice
Seher Bamba

Gifting, in a younger register.

A Gen-Z gifter who actually buys what she gives. The brand's first sustained voice for the under-twenty-five audience.

09 · Summer
Pool Days

The long stretch, held.

The summer hero, the season that runs longest, told as the unhurried domestic moment Indian families actually live.

10 · Sale
The Big Toy Sale

Sale, without losing the brand.

The discount window, held as a brand moment, proof that price work and brand work can share the same register.

05 · Seasonal Campaigns

The calendar of childhood.

Hamleys India runs a full Indian-celebration calendar. Christmas as the headline. Summer as the long stretch. Holi, Halloween, Makar Sankranti, Children's Day, Back to School.

Christmas.

Films & key visuals

The single largest moment in the Hamleys India year. A brand observance rather than a sale window, letters to Santa, magic-of-Christmas trailers, in-store meet-and-greets and a campaign vox-pop.

Christmas films · 9:16
Step into the Magic
Letters to Santa
Grateful for the Letters
Meet & Greet
Vox Pop
Christmas KVs · 3:4
Christmas Master KVMaster KV · 01
Christmas KV 02Master KV · 02

Summer holidays.

Hero film + master KV

The long Indian summer is a parenting season. The campaign frames Hamleys as the answer, with Pool Days as the hero film and the Summer master KV running alongside.

Pool Days · Film
Summer Master KVSummer Master KV

The festival calendar.

Holi · Makar Sankranti · Halloween · Children's Day

Each celebration earns its own KV rather than a copy-paste template, Holi as colour, Halloween as theatre, Makar Sankranti as kite-sky, Children's Day as portrait.

Holi KVHoli
Makar Sankranti KVMakar Sankranti
Halloween KVHalloween
Children's Day KVChildren's Day

Back to School.

Sequenced across the season

The September anchor. A five-piece sequence built for the back-to-school window.

B2S 01B2S · 01
B2S 02B2S · 02
B2S 03B2S · 03
B2S 04B2S · 04
B2S 05B2S · 05
06 · Content & Creative

The work between the work.

The non-campaign rhythm. AI and CGI used as a serious tool. A weekly product cadence calibrated for the scroll.

AI & CGI films.

A new generative film language for play

A growing library of films built without a shoot. CGI for product reveals where physical photography does not scale. AI for trend pieces and IP tie-ins that ship in days, not weeks.

Shopping · AI
Barbie · AI
NSO · CGI
Construction · CGI
Stranger Things
Monkey Trend · 01
Monkey Trend · 02
Penguin Trend

In-house product content.

A studio inside the store

The work that holds the social calendar between hero campaigns. Trend-led posts, product carousels, the rhythm that keeps the brand present when no campaign is on air.

Hot Wheels
Nerf Alpha Strike
LEGO Rose
Catan
Dash & Crash
Hovershot
Bicycles
Basketball
Hookaba Bags
Barbie House
07 · OOH & Retail Visibility

The campaign in the city.

Where the work moves out of the scroll and onto the street. Hoardings across Indian metros, store-window assets, the citywide push that turns a launch into something a child notices from the back of a car.

Hoardings & outdoor.

Hoardings and city-wide key visuals

Each store opening is supported by a citywide hoarding plan. Each sale window earns its own outdoor cadence.

Hoarding · Wide creative
Hamleys India hoarding
Citywide hoarding · Launch
City KVs · 3:4
Hyderabad KVHyderabad
Raipur KVRaipur
Rajkot OOHRajkot
In-store easelIn-store easel
08 · Promotional Campaigns

Sale, without losing the brand.

A sale window is the easiest moment for a brand to dilute itself. Hamleys India holds the line. Every discount campaign is built so the offer reads as a brand moment, Big Toy Sale, HPlus, Birthday, GST, Members.

The hero sales.

Hero films that drive the sale

Four recurring sale moments. Each one carries its own film, KV system and social rollout. The discount earns brand-grade production.

Big Toy Sale
HPlus
Members
Birthday Trolley

The sale KV system.

A KV system that carries the season

Around every sale film sits a system of statics. The same brand register, paced across formats, so the social grid, the WhatsApp pushes and the in-store shelf all read as one campaign.

HPlus KVHPlus
Birthday Sale KVBirthday Sale
GST 01GST · 01
GST 02GST · 02
GST 03GST · 03
WhatsApp BirthdayBirthday · WhatsApp
Registration OfferRegistration Offer
Master ArtboardMaster Artboard
The world's oldest toy shop, re-imagined for the Indian childhood.
Hamleys India × Yellow · Operating principle