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Why it is your best campaign
It's like asking a cricketer which is your best hundred? Tough one. My best includes the 'Kuch toh log kahenge' series of films for Motorola; 'Grow faster. The country needs you' film for Mother Dairy; 'Let Gandhi Talk' campaign for InGandhisShoes.org, an NGO, which won accolades around the world; and 'Me and Meri Maggi', an integrated campaign for Maggi noodles.
However, as they say, you are as good as your last campaign. The 'Don't get back- stabbed' films for Goibibo.com is by far the best set of films I have created, purely on the basis that they were edgy commercials, which I had always dreamt of creating. The ad films stayed focused on the issue, made a powerful statement, which consumers noticed and remembered despite so much clutter on television. This is the kind of work one always wants to create and I must say, just from that perspective, a great idea focused on the task and executed well is why the Goibibo.com ads stand out for me.
Since we are just a nine-month-old company, the Goibibo films are among our prominent pieces of work.
Brief to the agency
As the fastest growing yet the youngest travel booking website, Goibibo.com wanted to move beyond talking merely about 'features' to actually create an espousing brand point of view; a brand proposition rather than saying staid stuff like "fastest", "best deals" etc.
The core thought was about building trust. Travel is a category that requires consumers to invest their hard-earned money. So, they expect to get the money's worth in terms of promises kept and the guarantee of a great experience on a holiday. So, the brief to us was to build trust for a young, vibrant and aggressive brand.
Problems and challenges
There were no problems though there was one major challenge. How could we create a truly edgy idea that evokes response? Merely talking about trust would sound a bit soft, emotional. Then, there was the trap of comparison - us versus others.
The post-booking experience, refunds and service delivery often leave a lot to be desired. Unkept promises and unpleasant experiences are de rigueur in the travel category. The best way to build trust was to address the real, felt and experienced pain points of the consumer.
The route chosen and why
The route chosen was 'exaggeration' instead of plain testimonials. Literally, people get stabbed in the back because of dhokha (deceit) that is a sad reality of the services industry. Visually as well as creatively, our ads had to be edgy and salient. We chose to dramatise the different pain points of consumers through a variety of daggers poked in the back and brought in the doctor as a symbol of authority who recommends Goibibo.com as the definitive panacea for all such ills of travel booking.
This is the direction we decided to take. Executing the stabbing part was not easy. Film-maker Ram Subramanium of Handloom Films did a great job. Can you guess how it was done? We achieved the final creative without the use of computer graphics.
The outcome
The jury is still out - the campaign is still on air. But to list a few good things: it is a campaign that has, as all good campaigns should, evoked a reaction. Everyone has noticed it, commented on it and are talking about it. Experts and peers in the marketing fraternity definitely find it a step forward for brand Goibibo.com. The metrics so far seem to be faring well, though a final verdict can be announced only when the campaign has run its course.
Will it work in future?
It is at work, rife on television screens as we speak. It was created for a contemporary world and features extremely current issues and consumer experiences to bring to life Goibibo's promise to the consumer. For a brand that has had a searing rate of growth, the next step is to assure consumers that when you go with Goibibo.com you go in trust. I do believe it's a platform and an idea that we can continue to build upon in the future as well.
