POWERING BRANDS

Campaign Watch: #OreoPlayPledge and Sing it with Oreo

2021-03-04T07:07:00.002+05:30

Recently I happened to come across two Oreo campaigns – one from India and the other from the US. The underlying theme is about spreading kindness, moments of connection and brightening someone’s day so what’s not to love?!

#OreoPlayPledge
I’m not sure why every digital campaign in India asks users to take a ‘pledge’ for something but I am not complaining about this one! The video with MS Dhoni and Ziva is so lovely and sets the context for the campaign. All I needed to uplift my mood! Really well done. Check it out if you haven't already.

The Oreo PlayPledge static webpage summarizes what the Play Pledge campaign is about and how Oreo is contributing towards social good.

Sing it with Oreo
My favorite though is the ‘Sing it with Oreo’ US digital campaign that lets you create your own unique musical message or #OREOgram. The site has a few prerecorded options for the vibe and you can record a message which then gets processed into a funky sounding audio that you can share and enter to win a chance to meet Lady Gaga.

Everything from concept to execution, creative visuals and animation are top notch! I spent a good few minutes engaging with the content – it is a lot of fun!

There are a few pre-recorded messages from Lady Gaga too if you fancy giving them a listen.

Pampers India talks about equal parenting in their campaign #ItTakes2

2021-02-03T06:29:00.017+05:30

It is always great to see brands taking a different thematic route in their campaigns. Fatherhood and the contribution fathers make to a child’s upbringing is really underestimated in our society.

The new Pampers India commercial is a great example of contextual storytelling that you invest in emotionally. It talks about how it takes two to co-parent a newborn. The Pampers brand from P&G has always been a torchbearer for dads! This campaign is an extension of the work they have done over the last few years.

Pampers also has a social media surround campaign where they are asking their followers to share co-parenting stories which I think is a great idea. I’ve seen a few celebrities sharing their stories on Instagram via paid partnerships too.

The campaign also asks dads to take the #ItTakes2 pledge to be a partner in parenting. It is a good idea but execution doesn’t seem to work. The page doesn’t really render well (image looks stretched/ distorted) and it does nothing for the campaign. Do people still ‘take a pledge’ on static websites for things? It used to be popular part of digital campaigns about half a decade ago.

The Best Commercials I’ve seen recently

2020-09-04T07:17:00.005+05:30

In these very odd times of all-round lack of enthusiasm and cynicism, some brands are coming up with heartfelt campaigns that truly strike a chord.

Here are a few commercials that really resonated with me because of their heartfelt messaging, brilliant storytelling and execution.

First up is the #Dream11IPL campaign #EkSaathWaaliBaat - Making a case for togetherness, since nothing else brings fans together more than Cricket in India!

Next is this wonderful commercial from Jeep India celebrating Ganesh Chaturthi the social distancing way.
Have you come across any commercials lately that worked for you? I’d love to hear!

Powering My Career: 17 years of Growing and Learning on the Job!

2020-08-25T06:22:00.002+05:30

I recently completed 17 years of working (non-stop) in the corporate world across 4 very different organizations and more than 10 different teams. And what a ride it has been – one that I survived and live to tell the tale!

When I started as a fresher right out of college interning at Mindshare, all I could care about is getting a half decent first job. And then the ‘what’s next’ cycle started – how do I grow my skills, how do get the next salary jump, how do I get the next promo. It is a never-ending cycle which can get tedious, reason why so many of my friends quit to follow their passion and start their own venture or just freelance on their own terms. I chose to stick on and pursue my passion for creative writing in my free time.

As I look back at what seems like a different lifetime, the amazing experiences i’ve had and the great people i’ve met and worked with could fill an entire book, but we will keep it short for the purpose of this post and focus on some of what I learnt along the way (and I wish I had known when I started out).

1. Nurture relationships and friendships you make along the way.
A network only gives. One of my mentors asked me to read ‘Love is the Killer App’ by Tim Sanders. If you need someone else to tell you how important networking and ‘building relationships’ is, read the book.

2. Collaborate, don’t compete.
Everyone is different, has different capabilities and strengths. If you are good, you will survive. Unfortunately, a lot of teams and managers play one person against the other. Competition only breeds insecurity. You end up undermining your abilities and trying too hard to be someone you are not, which is exhausting and doesn’t take you far as a professional. Collaborate instead and leverage someone else’ strengths and help others along the way. Eventually, you forget everything else and only fondly remember the people that treated you well and helped you.

Which leads me to the next learning -

3. Don’t be insecure.
Focus on your strengths, build new skills and learn on the job. Insecurity is a waste of time and causes unnecessary stress (I realize now when I look back). As cheesy as it may sound, it is true that what is meant to be will find a way to you. All you should (and can) do is focus on your work and growing yourself instead of focusing on others.

But of course,

4. Ask for what you think you deserve.
I learnt this quite late in life. I believed (quite naively) that a manager will give you what you deserve without asking, only to realize much later that the process can be accelerated if you ask for that promo or raise and work with them on the milestones they think you need to achieve to get there. This way they are as invested in the process and are a partner in your success. And sometimes you will find a manager who is not invested in your career and this process actually helps you save precious time and make the choice to stay or move on. Either way, at least you know where you stand.

And don’t forget to -

5. Talk about what you do.
I cannot emphasize enough how important it is to show up for yourself and take every opportunity to talk about the good work you are doing. But, please don’t be that person that just talks and never does anything to show for it :)

And finally,

6. Take all your vacations!
Another one that I haven’t done enough of. Enjoy life outside of work, go out more often, travel, nurture hobbies, do things that help you grow as a person – they give you these vacation days to use and replenish yourself. No one cares that you worked so hard that all your vacation days expired at the end of the year, except that it leaves you fatigued.

What are some of the lessons you've learnt along the way?

Campaign Watch: Nike Membership #YouCantStopUs

2020-06-03T05:08:00.001+05:30

Nike has a penchant (more often than not) for coming up with great messaging. The latest Nike Membership campaign is no different. It is restrained, motivating and topical in today’s volatile times. Who would have thought I would say this about a Membership program!

The campaign messaging is all about bringing about a sense of belonging to a community of people that inspire and cheer you on. Members get access to apps, products and rewards and the membership page brings together inspiring stories of grit and hope. Hope that we will come back from where we are today and that nothing can stop us even when the chips are down.
Promoted Tweet

No matter what we’re up against, we are never too far down to come back. #YouCantStopUs

Join Us | https://t.co/4PA8xvWFag pic.twitter.com/VA30CC2ehg
— Nike (@Nike) May 23, 2020

And while you’re at it check this out too. Let’s all be a part of the change.

Let’s all be part of the change.#UntilWeAllWin pic.twitter.com/guhAG48Wbp
— Nike (@Nike) May 29, 2020

“No matter what we’re up against, we are never too far down to come back.”

Campaign Watch: Maggi Kitchen Journeys

2018-12-18T05:45:00.000+05:30

The campaign I’ve loved watching roll out in 2018 is Maggi Kitchen Journeys. Nestlé partnered with Zee Network earlier this year to come up inspiring stories of women across India who made a difference to their lives (and those around them) with cooking.

The thing about focusing on relevant and quality branded content is that you can devise an integrated media strategy to take the brand thematic to the customer as a next step, because it is content and good storytelling that resonates. Good content usually works across the board. In this case Nestlé leveraged TV, social media and the ubiquitous YouTube.

The series started mid-July and ended a couple of months back, but all the videos are available on YouTube to watch. Unfortunately, they haven’t created a YouTube playlist for the series (definitely something to consider) but check out the 12^th episode here .

The theme of the series was #kuchacchapakrahahai (something good is cooking), which does a great job of summarizing morale boosting stories the series brought together. The episodes celebrated women who brought their dreams to reality through sheer hard work and cooking skills.

The production values are great including the choice of host, the ever ebullient, Renuka Shahane. The format is predominantly Q&A interspersed with recreating stories in a fictional format, followed by the guest cooking- with the inevitable Maggi masala plug. I must say that the format is engaging, and the life stories of the women are uplifting. A complete win from a content perspective.

Screenshot from the Maggi Kitchen Journeys website

In addition to videos, the Maggi website takes the campaign a step further with learning courses that can help anyone take the first step to building their own food business. There is also a Maggi Wall of Fame where participants can share food recipes and ambitions to get featured. Surprised I haven’t seen a social media version of this, could have been a great Instagram concept in my opinion!

Campaign Watch: Pantene’s 14 Day Challenge

2018-10-24T02:56:00.000+05:30

Pantene’s new #GreatHairDay14 Day Challenge is a social media campaign designed for women to share their feel good stories. The core idea being that a great hair day is not just about healthy hair, it is about feeling better and more confident.

These 14 Day Challenge results are giving us all the feels 🙌 Share yours with us tagging #GreatHairDay& @pantenefor a surprise!
— Pantene Pro-V (@Pantene) October 22, 2018

The campaign microsite has a nifty Hair Advisor toolwhere you can provide details on your hair routine, goals and challenges and it analyzes the input and provides a hair routine recommendation that fits your lifestyle and styling needs.

Screenshot from Pantene's Hair Advisor

Pantene has enlisted bloggers and social media influencers for this campaign - which is a de rigueur for most brands today. Social Media influencer posts are a part of the “wall of fame”– which includes pictures of women taking the challenge and tagging their pictures on social media with #greathairday and #pantene14daychallenge.

Screenshot from Pantene's Microsite

I have to say that this is a well put together initiative to drive social media buzz and generate user stories.

Indian fashion’s tryst with Instagram: Sabyasachi and House of Masaba

2018-05-01T08:43:00.001+05:30

Instagram has been the chosen platform for international fashion brands to showcase their latest campaigns and collections. With an increasing worldwide user base, younger demographic profile, advent of ‘influencers’ and new product innovations that support unique creative solutions and integrated digital commerce, Instagram has emerged as the ideal social platform for the fashion & retail industry to reach their audience.

In India, Sabyasachi and Masaba are the two designers/brands that have jumped on the bandwagon and have leveraged the platform well. I have followed both these pages for a while and in my opinion, they do the best work.

Sabyasachi’s page on Instagram is a fashion lover’s delight with breathtaking photography, thoughtfully curated content and amazing attention to detail. Sabyasachi has launched his collections on Instagram since last year and his #BridesofSabyasachi campaign is quite popular owing to well thought out celebrity endorsements and his work with a leading TV channel. The rich imagery of his collections combined with storytelling have been a winning combination.

Masaba, on the other hand, has been quite a pioneer and early adopter of Instagram for her brand ‘House of Masaba’. I still remember her much talked about Candy collection launch on Instagram during the 2015 Lakme India Fashion Week. It was India’s first ever ‘Instagram only’ fashion show.

She launched her 2018 Summer collection on Instagram back in March this year which was all about great imagery and savvy storytelling. Part of the collection is modeled by real women from across the country, their personalities shining through in every photograph, which makes the campaign relatable.

Special mention to EKA for sticking to their brand of minimalism and doing such a great job with their well curated eclectic imagery on Instagram.

It does seem like the trend is catching up and hopefully we will have more Indian fashion brands taking their social media presence seriously.

#PoweringYourCareer with Mentoring : A two-way street!

2018-03-29T08:31:00.003+05:30

Continuing our series on mentoring, lets focus this month on what you, as a mentee, can do to nurture the relationship and make it work. Mentoring is a two-way street. There are significant gets but there definitely are gives as well. A mentor learns as much as you do in the process.

Here are a few things I learnt that could help you drive a win-win interaction with your mentor.

1. Respect their time and be consistent:Ensure that you keep the commitment to meet your mentors regularly (based on an agreed cadence) and respect their time. Get to the meeting a few minutes before time and send them a thank you note every time you have a conversation that helps you professionally or personally.

2. Set the agenda:
Another way to make the most of the time you have with your mentor is to set the agenda. Initially I would struggle with putting together conversation topics at the last minute which would result in aimless discussions that didn’t benefit anyone. Since then I started maintaining a note (I use Microsoft OneNote, of course!) where I jot down thoughts, questions and ideas as I go through a work week. This includes instances at work that I would like an opinion on or any new ideas that I want to bounce off my mentor. This ensures I have a set of topics ready when my meeting comes up.

3. Bring something to the table:One of the things I also like doing is to discuss industry trends and news. When I read something through the week that I want to talk about, I make a note and have my reading recommendations ready to share with my mentor. Some of these discussions could lead to ideas for either of your work projects. For example, I remember a conversation on data driven marketing with a mentor that led to us creating a framework for a project that his team was working on.

Like I said earlier, mentoring needs to be mutually beneficial for it to be sustainable. As a mentee, you own the relationship and the conversation – how you drive it will ensure that everyone comes out gaining something from it.

I'd love to hear your experiences as a mentor or a mentee! You can leave a comment here or email me at poweringbrands@gmail.com

Image courtesy: Canva

Campaign Watch: Oriflame’s #SkinResolutions2018

2018-02-18T23:57:00.002+05:30

Oriflame launched its new Optimals range with Swedish natural ingredients that provides a tailored solution to specific skincare needs. The brand video is beautifully shot. Check it out on their Beauty Diaries microsite here.

As a part of the launch, Oriflame set up a social campaign in January to get users to take their #SkinResolutions2018 with a chance to win the new Optimals products all through January. Users needed to select from a list of resolutions and generate a personalized skin resolution image that they could share on social media.

Social media posts from their brand endorser Kalki Koechlin was a great tactic that helped accelerate the campaign and provide visibility.

Considering Oriflame is a multi-level marketing company, social media and digital campaigns like this are a great tool to increase footprint and generate leads.

Campaign Watch: Adidas #ORIGINALS is never finished

2018-01-25T22:42:00.001+05:30

The thing about a good concept in advertising is that it continues to give, year after year, season after season.

In a bid to continue building upon (iterating and creating, as the thematic puts it!) their very successful and award winning ‘#ORIGINALS is never finished’ campaign, Adidas Originals has come up with a new brand film for Spring 2018 partnering with 10 of the world’s most influential creators including Dua Lipa, Playboi Carti, Nick Young and A$AP Ferg, targeting a new generation of Adidas customers.

The campaign continues the good work Adidas started with a focus on originality and the need to continue to build upon ‘what came before to create what will come next’. This is metaphorical for the brand promise and the product range that is an extension and refresh from last season.

YouTube is of course at the front end of the digital campaign and leads to the very visual Adidas Originals website.

Rich Media Watch: The Greatest Showman on IMDB

2018-01-18T04:20:00.000+05:30

I’ve been loving the rich media takeovers on IMDB lately.

Here is ‘The Greatest Showman’ takeover on the movie page. Well executed and totally immerses you in the larger than life characters that the movie celebrates.

#PoweringYourCareer with Mentoring : Navigate the career you always wanted!

2018-01-11T07:00:00.000+05:30

This is the first of my #PoweringYourCareer series in 2018. In this series, every month, I will share the experiences I’ve had and what I’ve learnt through my 15 years of corporate life, in the hope that this will help some of you. Let me know if there is a topic that interests you, you can email me at: poweringbrands@gmail.com

The first in the series is about Mentoring. I will confess, I’ve been a laggard with jumping on the mentoring bandwagon. For a long time I would hear stories from my co-workers and friends about how their mentors at work would help them with their career and day-to-day work issues. Now, after a few years of having mentored new hires and having discovered inspiring mentors myself, I understand what the din was all about.

The benefits of having a mentor are manifold, especially if you choose wisely. Here are three scenarios where I’ve found mentoring to be really helpful:

1. Get a Head start:Look for mentors who inspire you or have a career path that you would like to emulate. These leaders can provide you with invaluable insights from their own journey that will help you learn from the mistakes they made or what they did right. Of course every journey is different, but their stories can give you ideas to accelerate your career.

2. Plan your Next step:Identify mentors who lead teams you want to be a part of. The time you spend with your mentor can help them understand your skill sets and assess you as a potential hire and it also gives you an opportunity to understand whether it is indeed the team you want to work for. When you are ready to make the next move or when an opportunity opens up in their team, you will be well positioned. In times of job instability and org restructuring, having leaders that could guide you and potentially hire you is a great asset to have.

3. Learn and Grow: Having a mentor definitely helps us learn and grow in our careers. Talking to someone more experienced brings forth perspectives we might not have thought of, opens the door to experiences we might not have considered before. I’ve had mentors talk to me about books they read, conferences they like to attend, challenges they look for at work, non-profits they work with, things they are passionate about outside of work etc., all of which help me become a better professional and person.

What has been your experience with mentors?

Image courtesy: Canva

2018 Musing

2018-01-02T06:14:00.000+05:30

Happy New Year! This year let’s be bold and create the future of our dreams.

Campaign Watch: Surf Excel #HaarkoHarao

2017-12-28T08:38:00.001+05:30

Surf Excel’s latest campaign #HaarkoHarao talks about how failure can help us grow. It is a simple premise but in a society so enamored with success, this is definitely a required change in perspective. A growth mindset can help us reorient ourselves to learn from the mistakes we make to eventually succeed in life.

The brand has enlisted their celebrity endorsers to share stories of how they learnt from their mistakes. These inspiring stories are available on their YouTubeChannel and the Surf Excel Microsite.

A post shared by Twinkle Khanna (@twinklerkhanna) on Dec 27, 2017 at 9:21am PST

It is great to see the brand come up with interesting campaign ideas that are relevant to their (now iconic) "daag achhe hain" thematic. I also loved their TV Commercial.

Getting back into the groove!

2017-12-20T10:28:00.000+05:30

Dear Readers,

I haven’t blogged in a very long time. Though I had every intention to, but then life happens and plans remain just that, plans!

During this time off from blogging I have been thinking about the evolution of the content you see on Powering Brands. Especially in today’s context where digital transformation is a business imperative, brands get created (and destroyed!) on social media and where professional image building is a thing!

Going forward my attempt will be to broaden the content themes and write at least once a week (if not more).

I would love to hear from you about topics that you care about and what you would like to see covered on Powering Brands.

You can email me: poweringbrands@gmail.com
Thank you for all your notes and messages!

Twitter: The social publisher

2016-02-04T20:02:00.000+05:30

Twitter has cemented its identity as (what I would call) a ‘social publisher’ by rolling out the ‘home timeline’ on web, that pulls together popular public tweets from across verticals like movies, sports, politics, business, music etc. This gives users the opportunity to check out popular bytes and engage with tweets without logging in. The popular social platform has been taking this feature live in various versions, across select geos since last year.

The home page does look like a digital publisher’s home page, just that instead of curated content, this gives you the most popular content on the platform. With news and PR increasingly being disseminated through social channels, this is a smart move.

This also seems like a great platform to integrate brands and accelerate revenue generation – think takeovers, branded posts etc. I think it’s just a matter of time till these options are launched for advertisers.

No wonder traditional horizontal digital publishers like Yahoo! are feeling the heat.

Today we're bringing Tweets to more people around the 🌍 on our homepage: https://t.co/VIVfJCt2PU pic.twitter.com/C0htvdamPn
— Twitter (@twitter) February 2, 2016

Campaign Watch: #Lifewelltravelled with Cathay Pacific

2016-01-24T12:17:00.000+05:30

Cathay Pacific’s new campaign picks on interesting themes related to travel.

The core campaign thematic is #LifeWellTravelled. The landing page says ‘We believe travelling well is an important part of living well.’ I couldn’t agree more!

The web interface pulls together tagged travel images and stories from contributors across social media. There is a separate section dedicated to travel stories from bloggers profiling their inspiring journeys through vibrant images.

#LifeWellTravelled Web Page

#OneDayOffline is a promise wall where you pledge to take a day off from your connected gadgets and enjoy a real-world holiday in its true sense. The page offers mind-numbing data on the amount of time we spend online and our addiction to social media. You can create a post, decide the tile color and share it across social media.

#OneDayOffline

Of course there are brand videos and links to all the information you need about Cathay Pacific.

Overall, great ideas and a well put together campaign.

The tiled interface was a good thought but I would have liked a more dynamic and visually appealing web user experience. We are talking travel after all! Browser compatibility issues is another bugbear.

Cathay Pacific Brand Video Page

Campaign Watch: Carat Lane celebrates Women Of Mettle

2016-01-22T19:48:00.000+05:30

Carat Lane recently celebrated 7years in business with a smart campaign celebrating their main target audience. You guessed it. Women!

The #WomenOfMettle campaign pays tribute to women who make a difference in our lives. The social campaign got people to nominate and share stories of women who inspire them. The campaign trended right on top on Twitter. The fact that there were Carat Lane vouchers to be won helped the cause.

The campaign microsite featured informative statistics and nuggets pertinent to women in India and a TwineSocial plugin that brought together #WomenOfMettle posts from across Social Media.

Short topical burst on social media, yet a great way to drive impact and get people to take notice. Sometimes getting the idea right and keeping it simple, is all it takes to stand out.

Exide Life Insurance and Sulekha.com’ s similar messaging conundrum: Jugaad much?

2016-01-21T16:35:00.002+05:30

Two advertising creatives, same thematic. The timing couldn’t have been worse for Sulekha.com and Exide Life Insurance with their ad films launching within a couple of days of each other featuring the same theme of protagonists living their lives with Jugaad (short term stop gap solutions) and getting around at the end of the story to learn their lessons. With the amount of time and resources that go into creating and executing a concept, this is plain unfortunate.

Not only is the theme similar, the storytelling and execution echo each other as well. Uncanny!

Go #AntiJugaad: Sulekha.com

#NoMoreShortCuts : Exide Life Insurance

Exide Life Insurance has a great website, though. Easy to navigate and get to the information you need.

Sulekha.com and Ponds pick YouTube Video Masthead Widescreen ad unit for their ad films

2016-01-16T19:55:00.000+05:30

Good News! Indian Advertisers are exploring minimalism when it comes to rich media.

The seamless video experience on the YouTube Masthead widescreen, full-bleed ad unit stands out for its clutter free, high impact, video-only rendition. The video is on auto play mode with muted audio. The reason it catches your attention is that the entire masthead ad space is taken over with the video and the only copy is the video title or key brand communication.

I haven’t seen many brands go with the widescreen video option in India but this week alone two brands used it to advertise their ad films which makes me want to believe that advertisers are making the right choices rather than cramping an ad unit with every bit of their branded content.

Sulekha launched their 1:30min #AntiJugaad brand film with this ad unit and the only copy on the banner was the hashtag/ tagline (to connect back with their social campaign). Today Pond's used the same ad unit to advertise their TV commercial.

Sulekha.com on YouTube Masthead

Pond's on YouTube Masthead

Let’s hope the good run continues.

Two things that we can learn from the Colgate campaign on Yahoo! India

2015-11-27T16:56:00.001+05:30

The Colgate Charcoal Gold campaign on Yahoo! India today unfortunately gave us a couple of direct insights into ‘what not to do’ while executing a digital campaign.

1. Always write copy on an opaque background and check for readability. This is basic UX and should have been caught at the banner testing stage. The copy here is unreadable since the background is translucent. It is best to keep brand messaging and visuals simple.

Colgate Expandable Rich Media on Yahoo! India

2. The banner clicks to a static landing page with very little additional information. The static image then clicks to the product page on Amazon. The best user experience here would have been to use rich media optimally to deliver messaging and provide users with a ‘Buy Now’ option that would click directly to the Amazon product page.

Colgate Charcoal Gold Page

Rich media is a great vehicle to land detailed brand messaging and content including imagery, videos etc., which is frequently under-utilized by brands. Most of this content is delivered on user initiation which makes it a great engagement tool. In case it is important for you as a brand manager to get users to your website/ microsite, it is important to ensure that they get a little more than what they saw in the ad. Some form of interactivity or engagement would be a great starting point.

Bajaj Motorcycles re-imagines their online presence with a visual campaign for Avenger

2015-11-18T12:58:00.002+05:30

Bajaj Auto not only updated their Avenger line-up of bikes, they have also refreshed their digital presence with a new attitude. Bajaj’s cruiser range Avenger is now available in 2 variants, Street and Cruise.

To go with the positioning of the brand, the Avenger microsite is a visual delight. The videos on the starting and transition frames are a brilliant touch. The animation is slick, the full screen imagery and content is top notch. There are videos and detailed feature sets available with a 360degree view of the bike. I missed a zoom-in feature that would let me, as a consumer, get a close view of the bike.

Bajaj Avenger Yahoo! India Home Page Takeover

It is getting increasingly vital for Two-Wheeler brands to re-imagine their digital presence. They cater to an audience that is highly engaged across digital platforms. Building interactive and rich experiences is imperative if they want stand out in the clutter.

Café Coffee Day promotes new High5 menu with a ‘Hand Out’ Challenge

2015-10-10T20:54:00.000+05:30

Café Coffee Day (CCD) has launched 5 new ‘light and fast bites’ starting at ₹39 dubbed as ‘The High 5’ menu. The campaign elements include five unique hand gestures for each of the menu items, which is an obvious connect with ‘High 5’, and a rather ingenuous ‘Hand Out’ Challenge game (if you can call it that at all).

This game of chance, involves picking a random hand gesture (from the 5 listed) and if what you pick matches the system generated one, you stand a chance to win free food from the High 5 menu.

Adding a simple gamification layer to contests is an engaging way to promote short burst campaigns. A game like this one, for example, could work within rich media banners as well negating the need to create elaborate microsites for this sort of execution.

Targeting the youth demographic in specific Geos, CCD chose Social Media to promote this campaign.

Renault Kwid Reimagines Digital Customer Engagement with a Live Virtual Demo

2015-10-08T20:46:00.000+05:30

In an extremely competitive Indian marketplace, auto brands are reimagining customer engagement through digital executions like no other. Case in point is Renault India’s brilliant, first-of-its-kind Virtual Showroom for the newly launched hatchback, Kwid.

The rendition is simple; it is the idea that is compelling.

The Kwid Virtual Showroom microsite is a visual, full screen experience playing a short video that gives you a peek into the Live demo. Users need to provide their contact details to register for the Live Demo scheduled every hour from 9am-9pm.

This is a great way to give potential buyers a virtual, engaging view of the vehicle, by appointment, similar to what they would experience in an actual dealership, without the touch and feel of course. The streaming quality is great and seamless. In addition to increasing reach, this definitely accelerates (pun intended) the customer journey from awareness to interest even without a showroom visit.

The UI is well thought out and rendered, with clear call to action at every step. This will be a real win for Renault if they are able to see an improvement in their customer conversion percentage from enquiry to actual test drive.

Nonetheless, this is a fine example of how to create a clutter breaking digital Auto buying experience.