E-commerce Marketing
E-Commerce Campaigns That Stood Out
E-commerce has been a game-changer during the Covid-19 pandemic as it has been constantly moulding itself into something new as per the changing requirements of the customers. Everyone has literally been cornered into choosing the online and digital mode. In these turbulent times, brands have been trying their absolute best…
E-commerce has been a game-changer during the Covid-19 pandemic as it has been constantly moulding itself into something new as per the changing requirements of the customers. Everyone has literally been cornered into choosing the online and digital mode. In these turbulent times, brands have been trying their absolute best to use this to their advantage and increase their visibility.
Big online firms like Flipkart, Myntra, Snapdeal and Amazon clocked sales worth $1.3 B during the festive sales, that too within 4-5 days. A lot of demands poured in from tier 2 and tier 3 cities this time because many people moved back home from the metro cities to be with their families during the ongoing crisis. Further, in comparison to last year’s GMV which stood at $ 2.7 B, the GMV for the year 2020 has been estimated to touch a whopping $4 B. It is being assumed that home appliances and electronics have played a 25 per cent role in the overall GMV value.
Here are a few e-commerce campaigns that stood out during the year 2020:
HDFC Bank Festive Treats
HDFC Bank launched its second season of Festive Treats this year that had over a 1000 offers across categories. The bank tied up with several well-known brands such as Apple, Samsung, Suzuki and the likes, and doled out online, offline, and in-store offers. To reach out to tier 2 and the tier 3 markets, more than 2000 offers were designed to best suit the customers’ requirements.
A series of short films were shot with Sharman Joshi in regional languages to ensure ease of communication and greater outreach. The bank essentially wanted to make the customers believe that in spite of the pandemic, their outlook should be positive and that they should strive to live their lives as normally as possible. To show their support, HDFC Bank revamped its strategy and focused on safety and customer morale. People were constantly given the assurance that their financial needs would be well looked after.
Flipkart Big Billion Days
Flipkart’s campaign this year was engagement centric to the core. Their Big Billion Whatsapp bot was an excellent strategy to pull the crowd wherein the customers could meet Amitabh Bachchan virtually and play games and challenges which ultimately culminated in big discounts and offers. This bot was actively promoted across social media platforms and received active acknowledgement and engagement within no time.
Another interesting strategy here was to use Whatsapp as the mode of communication. Consumers had the option to converse in either Hindi or English which made it all the more convenient. The customers also had a fun shopping experience as they could activate offers just by sending emojis. It is being said that Flipkart set the benchmark for e-commerce advertising with this campaign.
Amazon Great Indian Festival
Amazon‘s campaign was all about preparing together for the upcoming festivities. They launched a film series that captured the essence of happiness and bonding that happens in the background while we all gear up for the festive season. Another interesting element of their campaign was the Amazon Festive Yatra, which was a house on wheels concept that highlighted their local offerings via a multi-city tour. Instagram was used to give real-time pictorial updates on the yatra while contests took place over Twitter.
They kept the excitement going by sharing testimonials and behind the scenes work of their team that made the customers feel involved and in sync with their campaign. Influencers were used for various categories to push sales and there were back to back contests and offers that kept the customers engaged throughout.
Snap the Deal
Snapdeal’s campaign focussed on the variety and extent of products as well as the ease of accessibility that these products had via their online platform. They followed the theme of finding products at ‘the snap of a finger’ and also launched a film series highlighting the pocket-friendly prices at which they were selling products for day-to-day needs.
Snapdeal predominantly used an all-rounder approach via YouTube, TV, radio, Tiktok, and Hotstar to reach out to their customers by providing eye-catching visual content that highlighted their products, quality and value pricing. The main idea here was to build a strong brand recall and better efficiency on digital platforms. They wanted to showcase how they can make things happen in a ‘snap’, and how their products cater to the middle-class online shoppers.
No more dekhte hain, OLX pe bechte hain
This campaign by OLX released an ad that gave the message that one should always sell their used products at the right time to be able to upgrade to better and newer ones. This video resonated so well with the audience that it created a mass appeal and crossed over 2 million views.
The jingle, “Dekhte hai” for the advertisement was composed by Amit Trivedi. The campaign was cross-medium in nature as the ad itself was launched in 6 different languages apart from Hindi, thereby ensuring a 360-degree coverage.
Myntra Treasure Hunt
Myntra took its campaign a little further than the rest by launching a separate website that was dedicated to a full day treasure hunt contest. People playing the game had to cross seven levels by answering multiple-choice questions. Each correct answer fetched a unique code that took them one step closer to win exciting prizes. If all questions were answered correctly, then the customers were eligible to be a part of the Lucky Draw that had grander rewards to offer.
Twitter was used as the platform for conversation which started trending within fifteen minutes of the contest launch using the hashtag #MyntraTreasureHunt. It also generated over 89,420 tweets within the span of a single day. Myntra’s follower growth on Twitter also went up by a good 10.25 per cent which has been its highest so far.
IKEA Place Campaign
IKEA Place came up with the unique idea of virtually giving its customers a glimpse of the near future. It is an augmented reality mobile app that allows people to see what a particular product or a piece of furniture would look like in their houses before even purchasing it.
All a customer has to do is take a picture of the place where he or she wants to place the product, insert the product into the picture, and move it around to see where it looks the best. Using the 360-degree imaging method gives this app a very realistic touch. It also allows the user to save and share the pictures, or reserving them for purchasing later. The use of technology here has definitely improved the user experience of the customers by a fair margin.
All these campaigns just reiterate the fact that creativity and imagination have zero boundaries. It further tells us that E-commerce will have a very strong foothold in the future and will probably become as normal as the so-called “new normal”. It would be safe to say that now is the right time to go digital for good.
There are countless more examples to prove how sports can be leveraged as the ideal way to build connections with your audience by 
Memes have proven their effectiveness as a marketing tool by emerging as the most viral creative format. Millennials are somewhat averse to overtly promotional content and ads. Brands who are depending on these groups for the majority of their sales can find themselves at an impasse if they pursue the traditional forms of content marketing to try and appeal to this particular demographic. Memes, on the other hand, have carved a special place for themselves in the lives of millennials. In fact, an average millennial look and 
2. My Plans // 2020 highlights what you thought your year was going to be in a photo, followed by how it turned out.
3. Binod trend originated with a person named "Binod Thakur” commenting his name "Binod" under YouTube comments.
2. Fevicol used subtle humour for creating a brand connect with a meme.
3. Prime Video promoted its show with a relatable meme on avoiding spoilers.
The first step to getting started with meme marketing is identifying and analysing your target audience. Known for their catchy & self relatable humour, memes help establish emotional connection with the audience. Moreover, memes help in amplifying your message organically without force-feeding an advertisement to your target audience. However, to be able to do that, you need to be aware of the kind of content that sparks interest in your audience and identify the kind of memes that they’ll enjoy.
One way to jump on board is through Memejacking. Memejacking refers to the practice of reusing or hijacking popular memes while integrating your brand message. However, this can be a tricky business and requires caution. To leverage an existing meme effectively, you need to keep an open eye to know what’s trending. This can incite shares, reach a wider audience, and help build advocacy for the brand.
A few other effective options include starting a viral meme or reacting to ongoing moment trends and formats. Popularity for memes as a marketing tool goes up significantly ahead of festive seasons and other topical days making them an excellent tool for moment marketing.
Another essential thing to note is that memes can have a limited lifespan. This is why it is important to stay updated with the latest trends and use trending hashtags to make the most of the limited life span of memes. Aside from this, it is advisable to utilise digital native lingo to make these memes more relatable to the younger audience who is more likely to interact with them.
While memes are the current big thing in the digital marketing world, it can be very easy to go wrong with them. However, there are a few missteps that brands can steer clear off, to ensure smooth sailing for their meme marketing strategy.
The first thing to ensure is that you’re creating memes in good taste by avoiding destructive criticism or below the belt digs, attacks on gender, or race. In other words, your strategy must be inclusive and considerate towards the sentiments of not just your audience but the larger community.
Aside from this, you need to ensure that your memes aren’t overly promotional or contain ‘in-your-face’ branded communications. What makes memes unique and more effective than conventional ads is their very sharable nature. Making memes overly promotional will strip them off this very property.
Meme wars have become incredibly popular in this day and age. While it can be harmless to indulge in a healthy meme war, brands must be careful not to hurt customer sentiments.
