"When a 100–200 metre stretch of Juhu Beach was shut down in the middle of a busy afternoon, passersby were left wondering what could warrant such a rare disruption. The answer was Netflix India’s launch campaign for WWE, one that set out to capture not just the scale of the global entertainment property, but the deep-rooted fandom it has built in India over decades.
The campaign, titled ‘Fanmania enters its Netflix era’, marked WWE’s move from Sony to Netflix for the first time and was designed to announce the arrival of one of the platform’s biggest marquee properties.
The film leans into relatability, nostalgia, and everyday Indian life, placing iconic WWE moves, gestures, and dialogues into the most unexpected real-world settings. Rather than positioning WWE as something new or reinvented, the brief was deliberately left open-ended. The idea was not to over-brand the transition, but to emphasise continuity. WWE remained the same larger-than-life spectacle audiences had grown up with; Netflix’s role was simply to amplify it by bringing greater scale, accessibility, and a richer viewing experience.
The idea took shape from a fan-first lens. The creative team, many of whom had grown up watching WWE, approached the campaign as fans rather than advertisers. This perspective became the foundation of Fan Mania, a concept inspired by the idea that WWE has always lived beyond the screen, spilling into the imagination and daily lives of its viewers. From Boomers to Gen Z, across metros and smaller towns, the campaign reflects how fans have long rehearsed choke slams in their heads, mimicked entrance music, or borrowed catchphrases in everyday situations.
The film showcases a series of vignettes set in government offices, neighbourhood lanes, massage parlours, and homes where WWE moments erupt unexpectedly into reality. The unpredictability of the settings became a key creative choice, ensuring the film did not follow a conventional advertising format. The decision not to feature celebrities further improved relatability, keeping the focus on fans rather than familiar faces.
Music also played an important role in shaping the film. Inspired by classic WWE entrance themes, the soundtrack helped build anticipation and nostalgia while maintaining a light, energetic pace across the different scenarios. The production itself matched the ambition of the idea. Shot over four to five days across 15–16 locations, the campaign employed two crews working in parallel, along with guerrilla shoots in hard-to-access bylanes in Mumbai and Delhi.
What began as a plan to shoot six or seven situations eventually expanded to over 15, driven by the enthusiasm of everyone involved. While only 11–12 made it to the final cut, several short-format edits were also created. The scale extended beyond logistics. From pitching to release, the entire process from global approvals to final edit was completed in roughly a month, making the tight timeline one of the campaign’s biggest challenges.
At its core, the campaign reaffirmed a creative truth: strong storytelling rooted in genuine insight can still cut through, even without celebrity endorsements or overt brand messaging. The campaign was led by a core team including Pradyum, Akash, Swapnil, and Gaurav, whose contributions helped shape what became one of Netflix India’s most talked-about launches of the year.”
About Kushager Tuli
Kushager Tuli is the President (Creative) at Tilt Brand Solutions, with over 18 years of experience in advertising. Over the course of his career, he has worked with leading agencies such as Ogilvy, Leo Burnett, and McCann, and his work has been recognised at prestigious global and Indian award shows including Cannes Lions, D&AD, and ABBYs, among others. Outside of work, he considers travelling to over 50 countries and exploring 25 states across India as one of his biggest personal achievements.
Advertisements I loved in 2025
• Dream11: ‘Aapki Team Mein Kaun?’
Best Campaigns
Myntra: ‘It’s You 2.0’
Ather Rizta: ‘All India Topper’
Cleartrip: ‘Prices jo karde sabki chutti’
TVS Eurogrip: ‘Bahut Time Hai’
Amazon Pay: ‘Payments ka A to Z’
(As told to Yash Bhatia)
