SIIMA curtain raiser: 50 creators and 100 videos building buzz for Dubai

What we were up against

SIIMA — South Indian cinema's biggest international awards — runs its marquee night in Dubai, but needed to build anticipation back home first. The Chennai curtain-raiser had to feel like an event in its own right and seed excitement for Dubai across Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam, and Kannada audiences. Star power alone trends for a day; SIIMA needed a wave of native, shareable content that kept the main event top of mind.

How we attacked the problem

• 1

  Curated 50 creators across South India's four film markets — fashion, lifestyle, and entertainment voices whose audiences are exactly SIIMA's cinema-loving viewers

• 2

  Made the creators part of the show, not the sidelines — ramp walks and red-carpet moments so they generated genuine event content, not just coverage

• 3

  Briefed each creator for 2 videos — a glamour and ramp moment plus an event-energy piece — for 100 pieces of content engineered to travel

• 4

  Framed every piece around the main event in Dubai, turning curtain-raiser buzz into anticipation for the marquee night

How it played out

What actually happened

The curtain-raiser activation generated 20M+ views across South India from 100 creator videos, making the Chennai event trend across all four film markets and carrying momentum into the main SIIMA night in Dubai. Putting creators on the ramp — not just in the audience — turned a promotional event into a content engine.