Britannia partners with chess champion Gukesh Dommaraju for interactive game initiative

New Delhi: Britannia has announced a collaboration with Gukesh Dommaraju, India’s newly crowned World chess champion, for its Milk Bikis brand. At 17, Gukesh made history as the youngest player to win the FIDE Candidates Tournament and currently holds the title of World Champion, marking a significant milestone in Indian chess.

The partnership introduces an initiative called Milk Bikis Smart Moves, a virtual chess-based game aimed at engaging young audiences. The game, accessible via QR codes on Milk Bikis Base and Atta variant packs, is structured to promote strategic thinking through two levels of chess challenges.

In the first level, players are tasked with making a single move to achieve checkmate. Successful participants receive a cashback reward and advance to the second level, where they must execute a two-move checkmate. Completing this unlocks a subscription to the CircleChess platform. A leaderboard tracks participants’ performance, with the top player earning a chance to either play against Gukesh Dommaraju or attend an international tournament in Europe.

To support the initiative, Britannia released a campaign film that was entirely generated using artificial intelligence. This includes AI-generated visuals and voice recreation of Gukesh, aiming to maintain realistic and consistent visual representation throughout. The film reflects a growing trend of leveraging generative AI in marketing and content creation.

Gukesh shared his views on the collaboration, stating,  “I’m really excited to partner with Britannia Milk Bikis. Chess has taught me patience, focus, and the power of thinking ahead… It’s a great first step into a game that sharpens the mind and builds confidence, and I can’t wait to see the talent it inspires.”

Britannia’s General Manager of Marketing, Siddharth Gupta, noted:
“Gukesh D represents the sharpest mind of his generation... This collaboration reflects Britannia’s continued commitment to nurturing talent in sports and inspiring the next generation of champions across diverse disciplines.”

Meherzad Contractor, Head of Studios at Hogarth India, also remarked on the use of generative AI in the campaign, “To bring a world champion like Gukesh D to life entirely through AI, with absolute realism and consistency, is not just a technical feat, but a creative breakthrough.”

The initiative represents an intersection of strategy, technology, and youth engagement, with chess as the medium to foster critical thinking skills among young participants.

Watch the campaign film: