How Kingfisher’s Crowd-Sourced Font Kinglish Created Social Media Buzz

Kingfisher has a very active digital presence considering some of the leading campaigns created by the brand. Adding to the list is the very popular Kinglish campaign, which was executed in Bangalore and has achieved high social media buzz. The campaign was a build up to Kingfisher Premium’s Great Indian Octoberfest 2013, held in Bangalore in October 2013.

Execution

A team from Kingfisher set out to crowd-source the alphabets of the font, moving through a number of pubs in the city of Bangalore. While the team shot videos of the excited youngsters imprinting white coasters with beer marks, India was witnessing the creation of the first ever crowd-sourced font which was going to come alive very soon.

People were encouraged to spill their drink and make alphabets individually. It’s not everyday that a Bangalorean gets to be part of a fun activity by a brand or is made to feel a part of an entire campaign by a big brand. When an activity like this hits the city, there are conversations spread through pictures and fun texts on social media platforms. The initial buzz about the campaign was spread through Social Media with thrilled citizens snapping their way through Instagram and talking about their excitement on Twitter.

A promotional video has been made, calling it ‘Beer speaks and How’ on Youtube which has crossed 7,000 views.

Behind the Scenes

Kingfisher collected thousands of blotting coasters and took them back to the design studio. The coasters were then sorted and uploaded to gain maximum votes. Each letter of the alphabet was picked and designed, matching the curves and style of the blotted coaster.

This activity not only gave the brand the right branding opportunity at pubs but also became the talk of the town. Beer pints were distributed as part of the branding, an activity which certainly created an impressionable brand image in the minds of the consumer.

Crowd-sourcing has become a trend on Social Media and has been used by many brands as a part of their marketing strategy. Crowd-sourcing a song, images etc. are activities that have been done to death. However, crowd-sourcing a whole new font is an exciting initiative and a long term marketing activity. When a particular activity is crowd-sourced, it attaches people to the creation itself and thus makes a campaign very popular. Kingfisher had also crowd-sourced hash-tags as a part of #KFBeerlympics campaign.

Font Usage

Kingfisher has confirmed that the newly created font will be put in use very soon. It will be made available on online platforms with an option to download the same. The font seems to be a very bubbly font reminiscent of a beer brand. At the event, an installation was activated where visitors could use the font to write on t-shirts, graffiti wall and a Write your own Kinglish Letter Wall. An instagrammer posted an update with a t-shirt print which had the Kinglish font at the Octoberfest 2013.

Branding Element

Behind every activity, campaign and an event is the core aim to enhance branding. Everytime Kingfisher executes a campaign, there is a strong branding element in place. With Kinglish the branding has been taken to a whole new level. Not only has Kingfisher marketed its event through this event, but it has also established a new category of branding.

This extremely original idea of creating a font and associating it with a brand and brand followers was an idea that absolutely blew me away. A very successful long term idea would be to take this a step ahead and create collectibles out of the font. Merchandizing, which is already being planned, will be a great outcome of this activity which will enhance the branding further.

This activity has elevated the brand’s cool quotient to newer levels. Kingfisher’s previous social media activities have been equally inspiring. I only hope that this font is put to use and does not stay limited to a one time marketing activity.