Platform Feature: Viral Fission

How do we define Viral Fission?

Viral Fission is a platform bridging the gap between India’s most capable and enthusiastic youth and the brands that they love – we do this through activations, youth ambassador programs, and online and offline experiences.

In a society like India, we noticed and connected a variety of problems – a disconnect between brands and their consumers, as well as job prospects and career-launching for the youth at large.

We designed a solution that serves all stakeholders in this space and creates additional value even, by connecting them in mutually beneficial ways that also allow brands to test out the impact of the youth and eventually believe in the future changemakers.

Led by Co-founders Shreyas Hegde (CEO) & Rishab Shetty (COO) and Chief Revenue Officer, Aditya Anand, we have already captured the imagination of tens of thousands of students, as well as some of their favorite brands in under a year, and that’s given us the belief to take bold steps further in this mission of empowering our fellow Indian youth while creating value for brands in the same ecosystem.

Whom do we cater to?

• Indian youth, from the ages of 17 to 24 (‘the Gen Z’) who are interested in seeking work experience and upskilling that is relevant not only to their course of study but their true interests and passion, which might be hard to come by outside of a proposition like ours.

• Brands who aim to exist not just in the lives and shopping carts of the Indian Gen Z, but aim to carve a place in their aspirations, with a view of establishing long term relationships

What do we offer to our consumers

For the youth – at the heart of it, we offer work experience with brands that they love, supported by certificates, rewards, and recognition. While on this long-term journey with us, we deliver additional value for our ambassadors through upskilling workshops, job opportunities, their ‘first professional network’ outside of college, and even offline experiences which we are just beginning to roll out as pandemic restrictions ease.

For brands, we aim to bridge their business objectives with trends and sentiments of the Indian youth, co-creating programs, activations, and experiences that engage up to thousands of our ambassadors at a time. While we are custodians of a community that is tangible and ‘offline’ in every way, allowing us to read into more than just numbers, we combine that knowledge with a data-driven approach to uncover truly actionable insights, backed by our strength to act meaningfully on those insights as well

What motivated us to start up?

If the problem persists in Mumbai which is one the most modern cities in the country, then it definitely persists in almost all parts of the country. The desire to address the glaring yet often neglected problem of creating meaningful experiences for one of the largest youth populations in the country was our strongest motivation to create Viral Fission.

What's in a name?  

Well, we wanted the name to be descriptive of the platform which we are building. Viral in respect of rapidly growing the community and while we grow the community Fission represents the widespread exchange of information and experiences within the community.

Also Read: Platform Feature: Say Cheese

How do we see Social Media?

Social media has tremendously gained momentum in the last decade and with the digital emergence backed by the unprecedented times of the lockdown, we have witnessed an unmatched growth in use and dominance in communications through Social Media. Aligned with the community marketing facet, Social media plays a crucial role that drives communications and engages a larger number of communities on the social media platforms, accelerating the campaign growth.

Currently we are....

Within a crunching period of less than half a year, we were successful to grow our brand roaster with 8+ aspirational youth brands and an enthusiastic community of 5000 students.

Our biggest challenge was..

The consistent challenge that we face is that of changing the perceptions of marketers towards youth community marketing, as it’s a space which most brands have tried to champion but very few have been able to establish a permanent position in the minds of the youth

Our What The **** Moment  

As a fun activity and dipstick study, we conducted a different Valentine’s Day In house campaign and asked youth across the country to reach out to their most loved brands. The overwhelming response of more than 2000 students in 500 cities reaching out to 500+ brands was pretty much a what the **** moment for us.

Industry as we foresee

We have witness social media breaking the stereotypes of communication in the best possible way. Brands have communicated the biggest messages in the simplest form through the power of Social Media and the reach as well as engagement each platform offers. In the coming years Social Media will elevate every brands digital presences, making the approach of resonating further detailed and personalized.

With the current community base we connect over 5000 students reaching out to close to 1 million youth audiences. In the upcoming years we wish connect and enrich majority of the youth not just in the country but also overseas.

Lastly, are you hiring?

Yes, we consistently are on the lookout for like-minded talents to help us achieve both short-term and long-term goals of creating a platform that aims at creating holistic youth experiences for the youth community at large.