[Campaign Faceoff] Amazon #KaroMilkeTayyari Vs Flipkart #AbMehengaaiGiregi

With Amazon's Great Indian Festival and Flipkart's The Big Billion Day about to start, Social Samosa takes a look at their respective creatives and which brand stood out in terms of their execution and brand recall in this cluttered space.

Just ahead of Diwali, like always the e-commerce biggies are fighting against each other to promote their respective sales through interesting creatives. Amazon has released their ad with a new theme titled ‘Karo milke tayyari toh tyohaar tyohaar lagta hai’ to promote Amazon Great Indian Festival starting from September 21-24.

Flipkart on the other hand is back with their kids acting as adults in their latest ads titled ‘Ab Mehengaai Giregi’ to promote their upcoming annual event- The Big Billion Day sale from September 20-24.

Amazon #KaroMilkeTayyari

Amazon in their #KaroMilkeTayyari commercial focuses on the joy of preparing together for the festive season. The brand takes the emotional route to highlight that festivals are to be spent with families and friends, while all you have to do is return home, Amazon is there to take care of essential things like shopping for your near and dear ones.

Flipkart #AbMehengaaiGiregi

Flipkart has launched a series of 8 unique commercials titled #AbMehengaaiGiregi featuring their famous kidadults. The idea of ‘Ab mehengaai giregi’ – (now inflation will fall) is positioned by the agency Lowe Lintas as the antidote to rising prices.

Commenting on the creative strategy, Arun Iyer, Chairman & CCO, Lowe Lintas said, “At a time when rising prices are on everyone’s minds, I think it’s quite cool that Flipkart is making it possible for people to afford the things they’ve always wanted. That’s where the line “Ab mehengaai giregi” comes in. Our intention was to make BBD more than just a mere sale event. Which is why we tackled the cultural problem of ‘mehengaai’ as a whole.”

Social Chatter:

Flipkart is engaging with the users through their #BigBillionDayHunt, where all one needs to do is spot the offers and share them in the comments section below and say which one they loved the most and why. Gift vouchers worth Rs 20,000 is up for grabs. In order to drive conversations online, the brand is using hashtags like #TheBigBillionDays and #AbMehengaaiGiregi.

Flipkart has also tied up with online content platform TVF to promote the upcoming 'Big Billion Day' sale through a hilarious video. This is the third year of their partnership and views on the video have already crossed 1.2 million on YouTube.

Conversation on Flipkart's Twitter page is mostly to act as a reminder for the upcoming sale.

Amazon on social media is mainly promoting details about their sales, like no-cost EMI and easy exchange, just ahead of the Great Indian Festival

Experts:

We asked Piali Dasgupta from SapientRazorfish and Mindshift Interactive’s Randal Gomes to give their views on whose creative strategy worked better and which commercial created a mark in terms of higher brand recall.

Piali Dasgupta, Creative Director, SapientRazorfish points out, “Humour is one of the most effective tools for delivering a message and works better than EQ (emotional quotient), particularly in the frenzied times that we live in. Flipkart realized that years ago. These mini ads pack in a punch while delivering the sales message effectively. By creating situations that are very relatable to the masses, they appeal to popular taste without losing the spunk that they have come to be known for.”

However, for Randal Gomes, Creative Lead, Mindshift Interactive, Amazon’s commercial for The Great Indian Sale stood out in terms of the creative execution. He says, “Each of the campaigns is distinctively different. While Flipkart adopted its long-standing take through kid's portraying adults, Amazon adopted an emotional route. Both strategies work extremely well in the marketing arena. For me personally, Amazon stood out with its refreshing take on the festive season with very relatable communication, something that can strike a chord with everyone.”

Brand recall:

In terms of which brand commercials manage to create a stronger recall, both the experts unanimously agreed that it is Flipkart, which stands out.

Dasgupta cites, “Flipkart has been steadfastly following their unique strategy of using kids for their commercials since its very first commercial back in 2011. While using kids as adults is a strategy that has been deployed by quite a few global brands in the past, almost no one does it in as endearing a way as Flipkart. When you hear Flipkart, you instantly think of the adorable kids in the commercials. It’s quite incredible how Flipkart manages to extract such great performances from these kids."

Echoing similar views, Gomes also feels that Flipkart’s strategy is more effective in creating an instant brand recall.“Flipkart has established its communication route with kids being the cast, adding an angle of humor and cuteness constantly. This helps recall drastically while the new angle of "Ab Mehengi Giregi" creates an instant connect across the classes and masses,” he concludes.

So even though Amazon's emotional touch has managed to make people homesick in this festive season, Flipkart surely has created more conversations and it stands out in all their creatives, which are relatable and humorous.