Chennai: While other politicians focused on building vote banks, actor-turned-politician Vijay ran his campaign like a film release, complete with trailers, guest appearances, and marketing gimmicks. Digital marketing strategists say this approach helped him secure victory in the 2026 Tamil Nadu assembly elections.
Vijay's Unique Campaign Approach
Jai Pratap Sisodia, a Delhi-based election management consultant who worked with parties in Tamil Nadu during the 2026 election, explained Vijay's strategy: "He is a star. He knows if he can get women and children in, he is guaranteed a hit. And that's what he did." Women made up more than 80% of additional voters in this election.
Vijay turned his network of 85,000 fan clubs into "virtual warriors" and micro-influencers. He employed holograms, robots, AI-generated content, virtual rallies, and hyper-local digital messaging. His primary target was first-time voters, aiming to draw them in and, through them, their entire families.
Organic Amplification and Digital Strategy
Madurai-based digital marketing specialist Hariharan Gandhi noted, "It worked because people trust content more when it comes from friends, family, and communities rather than direct brand messaging. In a way, the audience becomes the medium." He added, "Conversations spread without him having to rely on paid promotions. He used social media threads, WhatsApp groups, and local conversations. It's what marketers call organic amplification. Instead of pushing content to people, the campaign allowed people to pull the conversation forward themselves."
In the final leg of his campaign, Vijay called for a 'youth tsunami', encouraging children to help their 'Vijay mama' win by pressuring their parents. This line instantly spawned a million reels of children playfully threatening parents. One reel showed a child saying, "I will fling cow dung on you if you don't vote for whistle," while another girl shouted at her father, "I will poison your rice if you don't vote for Vijay."
Emotion Over Policy
Hariharan observed, "Vijay never talked policy." In fact, most people still cannot pinpoint his ideology. "He figured out from the get-go that in a fast-scrolling digital environment, people, especially youth, don't stop for logic, they stop for emotion," he said. A line like, 'You listen to me this one time, I will listen to you for the next five years,' stole the show days before Tamil Nadu voted, spinning off viral videos of children begging voters to give Vijay a chance.
Impact on Rival Campaigns
R Deepak, who worked with the IT cell of national parties, explained, "Campaign teams usually target a limited number of influential handles, say 100 at a time, from rival camps to counter narratives online. In TVK's case, the absence of a structured network made it difficult for DMK-linked accounts to respond."
DMK's campaign teams first encountered this during the Karur stampede. While DMK blamed Vijay for the incident, TVK-linked accounts circulated videos and local reactions supporting Vijay and questioning police arrangements at the venue. TVK's official IT wing largely restricted itself to sharing Vijay's speeches. "Much of the online mobilisation was driven by supporter accounts and independent digital networks, including IDs funded by Voice of Commons (VoC)," said Deepak.
Vijay has repeatedly claimed he is a target of coordinated attacks by rival parties. An employee of VoC, run by Villivakkam MLA Aadhav Arjuna, said, "We were given the task of amplifying it."
Political observers and party insiders note that sections of DMK's online ecosystem failed to engage with critics and undecided voters. Instead, many dissenting voices were labelled 'tharkuris' by party supporters on social media.
