Social Media Campaign Review: Close Up Gets Up Close And Personal With Romantics

Close Up has come up with a unique concept to generate youth engagement.. Engagement in a social media sort of a way, of course! If this contest leads to wedding engagements then I'm sure the youngsters' parents will have something unpleasant to say about the internet. Anyway, today we shall discover a good bit about the ‘Close Up Cupid Games’ campaign. Let’s begin.

Objective:

Over the years, Close Up has effectively used the platform of 'attracting the opposite sex with the confidence generated from pleasant breath' *phew*...

So match-making and wooing the opposite sex seems like a good, gradual way forward.

In fact, why just the 'the opposite sex'? With the help of this app there's a good chance you're interacting with an admirer of the same sex, thanks to the ‘maintain anonymity' feature. I'm not saying that it’s a bad thing, but let's just say there's an element of surprise.

Execution:

Personally I love the look given to this promo… right from the TVC with Lauren *pretty dancer* Gottlieb... to the logotype and background design for the contest.

 I admit, at first I found the concept a little too gimmicky, because hey... who does stuff like that these days?

I mean there are a good number of shows on TV that warn us against interacting with the unknown on the web and so on… so will going this way attract many takers?

 It just might!

Okay, so the game's a usual 'like to enter' ->'fill in your credentials or let Facebook do it for you' and so on. The app opens with a few tabs on top; one shows you the promo, another tells you how to play the game and the other two are 'tips' and can be ignored.

To begin, you need to type in the name of the person you want to interact with. And one good thing from a privacy point of view is that they need to give their approval before the game begins. This means no FOSLA-giri! You know, the ‘Frustrated One-Sided Lover's Association’. (Jeez, enough Indian political teen dramas for me!)

In the Settings' tab it says that you can expand your options by wanting to play this game with people beyond your friend-list. I tried it out and it didn't really work for me. Maybe I'm just born with it. Maybe it’s Maybelline. *sighs*

Post that it's pretty straight-forward... answer the questions about your likes and dislikes. Wait for your partner to answer the same. Your scores depend on the number of answers matched. Lucky winners get to party in Spain!

Positives:

The concept, though slightly clichéd, is pretty interesting. But hey, it’s called a cliché ‘cause it works!

I had a good look around and they've tried and tested this contest in other countries before bringing it to India. (Even Nigeria got their turn before us!)

What the brand can expect to work their way is that a lot of friends might just take part out of interest or fun.

And I'm pretty sure that people won't expect to find their soul-mates through this game, not that Close-up is claiming that, but they all can figure out that it's all just fun and games.

During the time this review was being written, Close Up added to the Cupid Games promotion the ‘Close Up Cupid Café’ card. In this gimmick, ‘unsuspecting couples’ were welcomed into a café on Valentine’s Day and instead of money, they were asked to pay for their orders in romantic gestures. What kind of gestures? A hug, a peck on the cheek, a bunny kiss, etc. basically the kind of stuff that can get you into a lot of trouble by political groups!

 ‘You pay the bill with your heart’ it says, in the video.

Though being sort of disconnected from the contest, it still makes for an interesting view.

Scope for improvement:

For some reason I felt that the format of the contest could've been more exciting. Figure this- You go to the page, you like it majorly for the sake of playing the contest. You fill in your credentials, read the rules and regulations, maybe even the TnCs, go through tips and when  the time of playing the game comes...you need to select a contact and wait for the person to respond.

Considering the scenario in which the person invited is not a close friend or a loved one, it means you really have to wait for the other person to login, check, expect them to want to go to a third party app, give in their details and respond to your (a stranger’s) request.

And it’s not just me. A number of followers on their Facebook page have little idea on how to go about the app.

This might probably be the biggest blunder of this application. Patience is a difficult enough virtue, and on the internet…it’s just asking for a bit too much.

They could've gone the 'social interview' way… an old FB app, (probably defunct now) that would let you ask or answer an interesting question to your friend and notify them about it before asking them to use the app.

‘Closing-up’:

This contest probably has the mantra of online success; youngsters + love + internet. But even then it appears as if they have missed a trick or two.

As far as I’ve noticed, the contest doesn’t have an overwhelming response. Not too many likes or word of-web on social networks. Which is strange for a brand that has picked up a celebrity to promote the application through frequently aired TV commercials.

If you have used this application and have something to add to or deduct from this review, then do give a shout out in the comments section. Have a good day readers, Ciao!