Flipkart It! This is what the Bangalore, India based e-commerce
site Flipkart is suggesting its current and potential customers. A very
ambitious campaign especially for a company which is just 5 years old(and broke even in 2010), but also
an equally likely one to succeed, if you ask me. A classic case of Brand Recall
already achieved by much bigger brands like Xerox and Google, the ‘Flipkart It’
campaign just emphasises the fact that e-commerce retail in India is eponymous
with Flipkart.com.
The new campaign uses the same essence of kids being
portrayed as adults but has tried to take it to the next level. The earlier
campaign was more informative and introductory whereas the new one tries to
establish Flipkart’s authority in a relatively untapped e-commerce retail
sector in India.
AD Autopsy
What it plans to achieve?
All Flipkart is trying to do is to create brand awareness
and brand recall amongst its current and potential customers. The next time you
think of buying something online the first thing that comes to your mind is
Flipkart. The timing couldn’t have been better! India is all set to be the
fastest growing e-commerce market in the Asia-Pacific and a plethora of other e-commerce
sites are burgeoning from every corner. And all Flipkart is trying to do is to
project itself as the blue-eyed boy of this nascent industry.
The Flipkart It - ad campaign
No Child’s Play
The most interesting thing about the campaign is the
projection of children as mature and sometimes even sophisticated adults. The
underlying idea is that the youth today is mature enough to make the right
choices – the right choice, in this case being shopping from Flipkart.com. After
all the major target audience/customers are the young adults.
Another point it tries to drive away is the simplicity of
ordering from Flipkart. Kids ordering mobile phones for their grandparents (as
shown in one of the ads) shows that ordering from Flipkart indeed is a
child’s(or atleast a 21st century child’s) play.
Finally let’s just look at it from a viewer’s perspective.
Most of us would have changed the channel if the characters in the ad were just
‘regular’ adults or ‘regular’ children. What keeps you engaged is the curiosity
factor aroused by these kids parading as adults and once you start watching,
it’s the subtle humor that does the trick.
Humor and Music
The opening line, “I wanted to tell you how Flipkart.com
saved my marriage” is a clear winner when it comes to engaging the audience.
The humor in most of Flipkart’s ads is situational and subtle. It is designed for the urban way of thinking
and that’s what their target is. E.g. in this ad the wife expects the husband
to put down the toilet seat after use or how she ‘accidentally’ reminds him of
her birthday.
Humor; especially for most of us goes a long way in
advertisements and the ad agency, ‘Happy Creative Services’ surely understands
this well.
As far as the music is concerned it’s classy and gels pretty
well with the advertisement.
The Hidden Messages
If you can make an ad which doesn’t really look like an ad you
have done something special. This ad embeds the advertiser’s messages into the
story seamlessly. “Luckily, just one day before she herself reminded me…”
beautifully portrays the point of Flipkart’s quick delivery. Then the part “the next day
when the gift came it was wrapped…” talks about the complementary services
that Flipkart offers like gift wrapping.
The Clincher
The clincher clearly comes at 0:41 seconds in the ad when
Mr. Forgetful while nonchalantly cleaning his specs says, “I don’t shop
anymore, I just Flipkart it!” There is something about the casualness with
which he says it that just makes you want to believe that the term ‘Flipkart
It’ has been used for ages. Something that Flipkart really wants people to believe.
And finally, the simplicity with which the ad displays the
variety of goods available on Flipkart.com just sums it all up neatly.
The new campaign by Flipkart.com is an ambitious attempt.
What Flipkart.com would be really interested in is whether people really
‘Flipkart It!’ whatever it is that they need to buy.
Video Source : www.youtube.com
