Shaadi.com's #FastForHer Campaign Leverages Television Celebrities For Occasion Marketing

Indian women the world over have always prayed and fasted for their husbands. For longer lives. Safe and complete lives. This year, the #FastForHer campaign by Shaadi.com looks to turn the tables. Giving the opportunity to the man in the relationship to fast for his better half to show how important and valuable she is to him. And of course for long lives!

Objective

• To make women feel special on ‘Karwa Chauth’ by building equality in marriage.
•  To create a strong brand recall by twisting the scenario where the man pledges to fast for his better half, instead of the wife on the 11^th of October.

For most women, their lives revolve around making their husbands happy and taking care of them in every little way possible. ‘Karwa Chauth’ is the occasion where they fast for their husbands and pray for their longevity. This campaign looks to give men an opportunity to make their better halves feel special by making a pledge that lets the world know how much they care for them by dedicating an entire day to an empty stomach to show their gratitude and how much they value them.

Execution

The campaign has the man creating a video with him holding an empty plate and making the pledge to fast for his woman on the 11^th of October. This campaign has managed to get some big names like Chetan Bhagat, Varun Badola, Hiten Tejwani, Sulaiman Merchant and many others to be a part of it. Each video is available on YouTube to watch.

Also, take a look at what  some other users have to say about the #FastForHer campaign –

The campaign also encourages people to nominate their friends and family members to do the same.

An unscripted video where the husband talks to his wife the way he lovingly does and makes known his pledge.

A microsite was created to number the pledges received. The site had a moon tracker too which immediately bought a value addition. A total of 14,41,716 pleadges are taken according to the website.

Positives

A great way to make wives feel special

• The #FastForHer campaign certainly tries to bring forth equality in marriage through its message. With less attention otherwise paid to an occasion like ‘Karwa Chauth’, this campaign successfully garners enough appreciation with well-known celebrities support & along with the message strongly communicated.
• With such busy lives that we tend to lead, it’s almost easy for married men to forget how much of an impact their wives play in their daily lives. From helping them find a missing sock to knotting a tie or even packed lunches, their contribution to every small detail can easily be forgotten. The #FastForHer campaign by Shaadi.com not only effectively banks on the occasion of ‘Karwa Chauth’ to build an etching brand recall both for men & women, but also helps men realize the endless sacrafices their better halves make every day of their lives.
• A brilliantly planned campaign by Shaadi.com that has managed to gather attention and interest with big names making the pledge, not for publicity but solely for the love of their wives! The idea of deploying video content as opposed to text content has worked to the advantage of Shaadi.com evoking a positive emotion among audiences online extending support to it.

Scope for Improvement

What negatives could there possibly be other than an empty stomach?

It certainly is hard to find a negative in this campaign other than the fact that this campaign tried to take the virality route of the #IceBucketChallenge, by asking users not only to upload their video taking the pledge to fast for their better halves, but also nominate their friends & family members, which did not really work to their advantage.

Conclusion

A great idea for a campaign, especially to promote the wife’s sacrifices that are always downplayed. She is special and she’s also forever making sacrifices. The #FastForHer campaign gives her a chance to witness how much her husband loves her and is willing to do, to appreciate & acknowledge her. It’s a very well crafted & executed campaign that will surely leave a positive impact on the brand image.