Social media Campaign Review: La Tomatina by Tata Housing

Tata Housing, the housing arm of the Tata group is working hard to ignite interest in its housing projects in an innovative manner. While buying a home is all about visiting the site and examining facilities it is also about what sort of look and feel a buyer seeks in the real estate investment he is making. Keeping this in mind Tata Hosuing recently pulled out all stops to promote its Mediterranean style project, La Montana project at Talegaon.

Objectives

Tata Housing is developing a township project called La Montana in Talegaon, based on the theme of Mediterranean lifestyle of Spain. La Montana is located near Pune, in the lush green landscape of Talegaon, very close to the Lonavala hill station.

Designed by reputed international architects F+A of the US, La Montana is distinctively Mediterranean in its style. Terraced land, porticos, classic arches, cut stone facades and terra-cotta railings, the design and architecture oozes Mediterranean style. Right down to the materials used - stone, red roof tiles, wrought iron and stucco everything is Mediterranean.

The La Tomatina campaign is an experiential endeavour by Tata Housing - 'Spain to Spain' - to bring live the Mediterranean lifestyle at the project site and let the visitors truly experience the culture of Spain. The Facebook app is a virtual extension of this campaign, letting people across the web experience the fun and color of the La Tomatina Festival which is held in Bunol, Sapin on the last Wednesday of August.

Implementation

Tata Housing brings this festival to life on your screen through a Facebook application and invites all to be part of this festival virtually. To join simply click here. The La Tomatina application on Tata Housing’s Facebook page offers choice of 7 tomatoes with various attributes such as Super Cool, Adorable, Stylish, Well-Traveled, Peppy, Celebrity and Cosmopolitan. You can splash the most suitable tomato at your friends and color their Facebook Wall red. Friends in turn will also have an opportunity to take their revenge and hurl back a tomato that suits you.

Positives

The timing for a fun campaign revolving around friends is just right. With Friendship Day being celebrated on the first Sunday of August it is a time when people are looking to engage with friends both online and offline.

Creating an app based on the La Tomatina festival is the right thing to do as it supplements the effort that Tata Housing has made to keep its campaign distinctly Mediterranean in flavor. The app is well designed and navigation is smooth. The campaign has the potential to go viral especially among the youth.

Terms and Conditions are clearly spelt out which is a good thing.

The offline campaign to promote La Montana was launched in June and wrapped up on 31^st July, 2013. The spirit and magic of Spain was recreated at the venue and a lucky draw was also organized. Visitors were taken to the site in Spanish themed buses. Thus the offline campaign was well integrated with the online one.

Scope for Improvement

The Facebook app requests permission to access personal profile and friend related information. This might be a little off putting for those with privacy concerns.

While the app and campaign have been designed keeping the fun element in mind, I wonder how many home buyers will actually be interested in playing this game on Facebook? The app might interest college students’ more than serious home buyers.

Some buzz on Twitter and YouTube might have created greater awareness.

Conclusion

Tata Housing as a brand is committed to delivering best dwelling experiences. The roll out of 'Spain to Spain' campaign by Tata Housing is one extensive marketing initiative which is aimed at giving existing and prospective buyers a feel of Spain, based on which the La Montana project is built.

Inventive print ads, creative outdoor campaigns, digital and social media endeavours like the Facebook app have taken Tata Housing many steps ahead on the path to successfully engaging with audiences.