Inside: G-Shock Arena, a campaign focussed on extending the brand philosophy

Social Samosa takes a look at G-Shock's latest campaign and how it attempts to revive demand with the upcoming festive season.

Echoing G-shock’s philosophy of #ChallengeTheLimits, the G-Shock arena campaign is an extension, aimed at helping people unleash their creativity amidst the ongoing challenges.

To achieve this, the watch brand roped in 10 creators as a part of the G-squad, touted to be the tastemakers in their respective fields, further intended at urging people to solidify their passions & learning experiences.

Insight & Objective

G-shock, ever since its inception, has been known for its toughness and associated features and the campaign is an extension of a similar ideology. As a brand, it even stands for attributes such as resilience, in-line with its abbreviation of ‘Gravitational Shock’ & promotes street & urban culture, globally.

In a bid to narrate this street and creative culture in India, the G-Shock arena campaign was rolled out. The core objective of the campaign was to convey the message of resilience and being unbreakable in all times to the watch lovers, narrating the street & creative culture in India through the G-Squad.

“The latest campaign is all about offering unique experiences and building association of G-Shock with terms like Toughness, Creativity, Streetstyle, Innovation”, shares Kulbhushan Seth, Vice President, Casio India.

Conceptualisation & Execution

#ChallengeTheLimits is Casio’s endeavor to urge people to push their boundaries and urge them to achieve the unbelievable. Seth explains that the campaign comes from the G-shock watch itself which is positioned as unbreakable & rugged.

For the campaign, 10 of the leading influencers are roped in, who echo similar sentiments as the brand. Seth highlighted, “These influencers hosted a series of digital experiences, learning platforms, creative grants & contests and a lot more, to drive cultural growth during these vulnerable times. While all of us had been stuck at homes for the longest and still our way forward is slow, the campaign intended to hone and solidify people’s passion, creativity, and learning experiences.”

From the art of rapping to making digital stickers, from the basics of skateboarding to mastering footwork and power moves, phase 1 of the G-Arena campaign unfolded with elements of street culture, music, hip hop & creativity through visual & narrative language.

In the next phase, the ‘G-Squad’ continued to help empower Genz & millennials. It involved #GArena Contest, #GArena festival weekend, a Mentorship Program, and a product look book with talent profiles sporting the watch.

Also read: Inside: Mountain Dew’s multi-brand anthem based campaign

Elaborating on the campaign, Varsha Patra, CEO & Co-founding partner of Homegrown, said, "The campaign provides G-Shock fans and followers the opportunity to upskill & learn directly from the G-Squad, a group of thought leaders from diverse backgrounds who are a great representation of the ethos of the street & it's subcultures in India today."

Seth also pointed out that initially the campaign was conceptualized as an on-ground activity but with the pandemic and the current times, the brand had to adapt and remodel it on the virtual world.

GShock Marketing & Social media Strategy

At a time, when social media has become a norm for information consumption and communication, consumers are spoilt for choices with a plethora of content.

“We at G-shock offer experiences and memories with our large launches happening exclusively on social media. A larger part of the marketing budget is towards creating a digital impact through various tools. And this includes not only for our watch portfolio but also other products including musical instruments and calculators”, highlights the brand custodian.

From the brand ambassadorship program with Tiger Shroff and Jacqueline Fernandez in the past to the G-Arena campaign in the present, Casio seems to have undertaken multiple initiatives under the #ChallengeTheLimits philosophy. In the coming months, the brand intends to continue with its current marketing strategy in line with its brand ethos & collaborations such as the launch of Dragon Ball Z with One Piece & Faces + Places.

The social media posts revolve around the influencers for this campaign that include contests, workshops & more. Further, throughout the social media profiles of the brand, the post background majorly involve the image of product with black & red hues.

The communication strategy for G-Shock across social media pages revolves around the brand attributes of pushing & challenging the limits, achieving the goals, and staying resilient even at the time of adversities to succeed in life. The post captions involve inspiring quotes to attempt going beyond the boundaries.

Another trend that is observed is leveraging pop culture in-line with the brand’s stand for spreading the varied cultures. Collaborating with influencers who endorse the hip-hop culture as rappers and launching watches with Dragon ball Z theme & design highlight this fact, along with the captions that bring out an attribute that seems to be zany & rebellious.

The hashtags involved are usually #GShock, #ChallengeTheLimits, #AbsoluteToughness. #Streetstyle, #Garena, amongst others.

Consumer & Marketing trends to foresee

With industry
fast-embracing the new normal and the festive season around the corner, the
brand remains hopeful about the revival in the business landscape.

Apart from influencing people to challenge the limits, G-shock also aims to follow consumer trends with evolving times. According to the brand, with more people spending time at home, physical and mental fitness has taken center stage. Keeping up with the trend and customer requirement, they launched the G smartwatch, GBD H1000, equipped with features that allow the users to track their fitness activities & more.

For the coming
month, Seth summarizes & highlights the top trends that are here to stay
& dominate in the season-

• Discounts and offers
• Companies pegging on gifting solutions
• Specially curated and personalized products will gain momentum