Social Media Campaign Review : Ashwin Mushran Gives Out Love Advices at Tata Capital's #ValentinesHelpline

Introduction

Tata Capital Limited is a subsidiary of Tata Sons Limited. A trusted and customer-centric one-stop financial service provider, the company caters to the diverse needs of retail, corporate and institutional customers, across various areas of business, namely- Commercial Finance, Infrastructure Finance, Wealth Management, Consumer Loans and the distribution and marketing of Tata Cards.

Tata Capital has established a strong social media presence by virtue of campaigns like Do Right which was followed up with #HalfStories. Recently the brand had also launched a Birthday Surprise campaign which gained quite a lot of traction from the online community.

Tata Capital seeks to build strong relationships with its customers and deliver superior and consistent customer experience across all products and touch-points. In this quest of strengthening brand connect, for the occasion of Valentines Day, the brand launched #ValentineHelpline campaign. The activity was planned in sync with the brand proposition "We Do Only Whats Right For You".

Objectives

The objectives of #ValentinesHelpline campaign reflect the strong resolve of the brand to deliver solutions that are ‘right’ for customers and the society at large. With the launch of a #ValentinesHelpline and personalized advice/tips to shoo away valentine woes the brand intends to:

• Drive customer engagement leveraging on the special occasion of Valentines Day which gains a lot of attraction within the online community.
• Reinforce the brand's philosophy and remind the customers that whatever be the odds Tata Capital stands by them and helps them in doing what’s ‘right’ for them.
• Connect products/services with the occasion in consumers’ thoughts. This can not only expand the reach of their products as opposed to a competitor’s, but also extend their reach to new markets.

Execution

The ‘#ValentinesHelpline’ campaign was launched simultaneously on Twitter and Facebook on February 12th 2014 with a few pre-reveal teaser posts-

We have something exciting coming up for you. Watch this space for more information! pic.twitter.com/qCOC06RBs3

— Tata Capital (@tatacapital) February 12, 2014

Facebook Post

This was followed up with a shout out to all followers on Twitter and Facebook.

Have Valentine's Day woes? Don't worry, our expert will help you out! Send in your queries to us on Twitter using #ValentinesHelpline. Hourly prizes up for grabs!

The Love Expert for the campaign was the famous comedian Ashwin Mushran (@ashwinmushran) who took charge of @TataCapital Twitter handle,provided personalized advice and tips to all the followers and tweeple tweeting their worries using #ValentinesHelpline. The campaign gained genuine and organic traction because of the witty responses and funny solutions from the extremely talented Love Guru.

@ishanidhar Drive straight down any main road...Look for a Croma Electronics store. The Man's Heart will be there.

— Tata Capital (@tatacapital) February 13, 2014

 

@Deckle_Edge Go to Germany for some time. When she phones you, pick up the phone and say "Ja Bong"

— Tata Capital (@tatacapital) February 13, 2014

 

@The_MotaGuy Try Acetone... Usually a good fix for the glue. Also a cheaper solution.

— Tata Capital (@tatacapital) February 13, 2014

 

@thekopargaonkar Now Now! No need for violence. You don't have to beat him, he's hurt enough as it is.

— Tata Capital (@tatacapital) February 13, 2014

Outcome

Positives

The idea behind ‘ValentinesHelpline’ campaign to reinforce the brand's proposition “We Do Only Whats Right For You” was perfect. This is a reminder lesson for all the brands out there to connect their offerings with a special occasion and constantly make their presence felt in the minds and hearts of prospective consumers.

The selection of #ValentinesHelpline hashtag was brilliant. It was generic and had the potential to go viral in the scenario in which it was planned out.

The brand did a great job pulling in Ashwin Musharan who is a well known comedian with a good number of followers. This definitely helped them in expanding their horizon and connecting with more followers on the special occasion of Valentines Day.

Scope of Improvement

The campaign gained genuine and organic traction over a span of two days, but the execution plan was very average. Four creative ads shared on Facebook and Twitter, followed by the Valentines Helpline live, was not enough to create the buzz and garner attention which the brand intended to.

A serious blunder was committed with the creative which read "tweet using #ValentineHelpline" instead of "#ValentinesHelpline"; the creative team categorically missed the (s) in the promotion ads. This would have reduced the reach to a minimal extent.

Since the brand had got Ashwin Musharan on board, they could have utilized his image in a better way by having short videos with comic, witty and sarcastic spiels on Valentines Day, revealing #ValentinesHelpline with a message like “Help me Help you do the right with Tata Capital” etc. Such videos uploaded on YouTube could have added to the buzz and raised the potential popularity of the campaign.

Although the idea was to connect the brand and its offerings to the occasion of Valentines Day, a tangible link between the offerings and #ValentinesHelpline was missing. A basic app on Facebook which answers the queries of users and then connects them to a page which exhibits what they can do for their special one with Tata Capital on Valentines Day, similar to the birthday surprise landing page, would have had a better impact.

Conclusion

Tata Capital’s ‘ValentinesHelpline’ campaign was an outstanding effort from the brand to reflect the brand's philosophy. The brand got the basics right and was able to touch the existing fans/followers base by delivering suggestions and tips that are ‘right’ for them. The execution for the campaign was loosely planned i.e the goof up with creative, lack of buzz and awareness initiatives, but overall, the campaign managed to fulfill the key objective which was to register their presence in the minds of consumers on the occasion of Valentines Day.

Click here to read our Interview with Mr. Ashwin Mushran.