Twitter and Instagram users may feel like ‘every brand everywhere all at once’ as brands from ecommerce firms Zomato, Swiggy, Dunzo and Meesho, to restaurant chain KFC, banks Kotak Mahindra and AU Bank, insurance firm HDFC Life, Reckitt Benckiser’s condom brand Durex, glucose drink Glucon-D, dairy maker Mother Dairy and P&G’s Tide detergent rolled out advertisements and memes to connecting the Oscar winners with their brand messaging.
Kartiki Gonsalves and Guneet Monga’s ‘The Elephant Whisperers’ won the Oscar for best documentary short film while ‘Naatu Naatu’ from SS Rajamouli’s blockbuster RRR won it for best original song.
Paytm came out with an ad that said, “Say Na To UPI Failures with Paytm” while detergent brand Tide in a meme declared that a win “can’t get cleaneRRR than this”. Condom brand Durex in an ad said: “WHISPERing to winning screams. Indeed, a gRRReat night.”
Tanveer Khan, general manager, marketing and branding, at Dunzo, said this year’s Oscars ceremony was much more than a “moment marketing opportunity”. “At moments like these, it’s important to celebrate those who have made the country proud, without force-fitting your brand’s offerings,” he said.
The instant delivery firm created a 3D version of the hook step used in the choreography of ‘Naatu Naatu’ with its own mascot Harri, and released a congratulations post saying, “Don’t whisper, it’s time to blow the trumpet” and showing a delivery employee celebrating the Oscar wins.
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“For a brand like KFC, which is young and rooted in pop culture, topical moments such as these are a great way to engage with our fans on social media,” Aparna Bhawal, chief marketing officer of KFC India, told ET.The restaurant chain in a post linked the three Rs in the movie title to its chicken dinner. “The post was a simple and creative way to catch the attention of both KFC and the film’s audiences,” Bhawal said.
Experts said brands use such topical ads to aid brand recall and boost consumer engagement and brand relevance, experts said.
“In today’s world of ‘millisecond attention span’, anything and everything to get attention seems to be the need of the hour,” Pavan Padaki, branding coach and author of Brand Vinci, told ET. “It’s all about a ‘here and now’ marketing strategy, putting the onus on the communication and the creative piece to deliver ‘brand relevance’.”
Even PIB Fact Check jumped on the bandwagon and posted an ad saying, “Naa To Misinformation and Naa to Fake News”.
AU Bank directly linked the Oscar wins with a consumer pitch, announcing that consumers could take an “upgrrrade”, stating that with the AU SwipeUp platform, consumers could get credit card upgrades.
Zomato tweeted that the Naatu Naatu Oscar win made India’s day incredibly sweeteRRR.
Indian Sellers Collective, an organisation of Indian snacks and sweets makers that is protesting against food safety regulator FSSAI’s proposal to implement front-of-pack labelling, also released a campaign on Twitter stating: “Say Na-Tu, No-Tu front pack labelling”.
Uday Aghamarshan, vice-president strategy at the full stack metaverse platform 1verse, said on a day where everyone’s talking about a certain issue, it makes sense for brands to associate themselves with that hype.
“Brands go the extra mile to have an ‘associated advantage’ which works against your competitors,” he said. “It is a wonderful switch between the creative capitalisation and being on top during a cultural moment to actually making business from it. Here, everyone’s jubilant because we won an Oscar. And at that time, if you throw in a nice ad, the emotional quotient of the response is very high, which otherwise is quite a rare possibility.”
Aghamarshan also pointed out that it is cost effective, specifically with regard to performance-based digital marketing wherein a company looks at the amount of money it spends on, say, a Facebook ad to get a certain amount of business.
Branding coach Padaki said, “Most brands pick up relevant events and predetermined calendar dates related to a cause to make relevant brand statements. In the case of an event celebrating an achievement, it becomes every citizen’s and brand’s property. Every brand gets the license to applaud, acknowledge and associate with the celebration. Celebration of the achievement in question adds to the brand’s relevance.”
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