UrbanClap garners mixed reviews for its International Men's Day campaign

This International Men’s Day, a day that not many are aware of and even few celebrate, UrbanClap, chose to take it upon themselves to spread a message that is seldom touched upon. Campaigns with a social message are always at a risk of being overtly preachy or downright controversial, but the trick is to maintain a balance, which the brand did well.

A Gurgaon based online service marketplace, Urban Clap connects customers to service professionals. Founded in the year 2014, it has gained the confidence of corporate veteran Ratan Tata, who saw promise in the venture and invested in them.

Often neglected, International Men’s Day was commemorated by UrbanClap, carefully weaving together their service offerings with the occasion, that balanced the scales, projecting the message of women empowerment and equality while at the same time celebrating and wishing all men, A Happy Men’s Day.

The video begins with Shanti Devi, a mechanic at Transport Nagar on the outskirts of Delhi and many women like her who have challenged the preconceived notions of society to take up jobs that are ‘not for women’.

Keeping their viewers engaged to the very end of the video, it brought the attention of social media users towards Indian women who with their iron clad will, shattered the traditional stereotypes.

Mixed Reviews

Manesh Swamy, Creative Director, Hungama Digital Services opines, "Gender sensitivity is now a universal theme across and this film smartly leverages this proposition. The film starts with a very arrogantly-feminist feel but subdues a little in the end by talking about equality. By far, I think this film stands out from the series of films made on Men’s Day subject because the bold treatment and the unconventional way of thanking men for being around."

The video premiered on Urban Clap’s social media handles on 19th November and quickly amassed thousands of views.

"One look to their YouTube channel and you will come know that UrbanClap produces lot of online films, What I don’t understand is if you are making an online film and are bold enough to pick a subject of gender sensitivity and claims to be from the equals to equals. Why do you disable the comments of the YouTube video? Let there be a dialogue, communication is the first step towards to solving any situation. The film is good but not sure how much brand rub-off it will add to UrbanClap,” Swamy adds.

Feigning the beginning of the video to be that of preaching an ultra-feminist ideology was brilliant as that kept the viewer glued to the very end. Nevertheless, certain elements seemed out place.

Varun Duggirala, Co-Founder, The Glitch, exclaims "The idea of highlighting real women who have taken on work that would traditionally be looked at as a "man's job" is both interesting and very apt for the times we are in. The mechanic was also a brilliant character but the others lacked the kind of impact she brought to the table, that wink was classic! As a campaign, it’s a strong idea but I somehow didn't get the main punch line, felt a little confusing to me but I don't think it diluted the impact too much."

The Social Nexus

On Facebook, where Urban Clap boasts of more than 133k followers, the video has received a whopping total of 37k views on the video. The video was shared 596 times on Facebook and continues to witness traction and positive response.

On Twitter, Urban Clap has a little over 5k followers, and the campaign video received 14 Retweets and 11 Favourites.

On the occasion of men's day, UrbanClap wishes to tell you what we understand of it. Watch the video to find out https://t.co/PqUlDmgAGm

— UrbanClap (@urbanclap) November 19, 2016

UrbanClap did exceptionally well to capitalize at the lack of number of brands rolling out their campaigns on International Men’s Day. Their campaign video and social message were all perfectly crafted, but as visually astute as it was, UrbanClap could not manage to fully spread the message on social media.

A commendable job nevertheless, UrbanClap received rich dividends in the form of visibility across the social media spectrum building a deeper connect with their existing and new followers, owing to their decision to further a social cause.