Nidhi leads India’s research team and specialises in analysing and providing insights to better understand the Indian marketplace and consumer behaviour.
Holi, known widely as the festival of colours, is celebrated across India where people cover themselves and others in coloured powder and water. Holi presents one of the most significant opportunities for brands to join consumers in reveling in the euphoria of festivities. This year saw brands send out strong social messages, as well as the playful messaging and splashes of colour typical in these campaigns.
Mintel research indicates that more than half of Indian consumers watch videos online. Because of the growing popularity of these channels, it is becoming important for brands to focus on their social media footprint with strong social narratives to reach out to the growing online consumer base.
Here, we look at three brand campaigns with strong social media messaging that were rolled out for this year’s festival of colours.
fbb #BuraNaKhelo
fbb, the fashion retailer, uses its Holi campaign to wish the women of India an enjoyable and safe Holi. The campaign urges men and women alike to stand-up against the bad-touch many women experience during this festival, and to ensure that women are respected and feel safe under all circumstances. fbb is also giving out stickers at the stores to all its customers to help create more awareness about this initiative.
Livepure #BinaPaaniHoliManani
While the positives surrounding Holi are numerous, the celebrations come at a cost – massive water waste. Livpure, a water purifier brand, addresses the wastefulness in its new Holi campaign, #BinaPaaniHoliManani. The campaign seeks to create awareness around the rampant use of water balloons, which contributes greatly to the water waste during Holi. An online video that is central to the campaign centers around kids, who will face the major brunt of this problem, in order to make a statement against using water balloons to reduce water waste.
Facebook MoreTogether
Facebook launched its ‘More Together’ Holi campaign this year, which shows how a man living in Romania gets to celebrate the festival of Holi thanks to the initiative of his friends in India through the Facebook app. According to Facebook, it is also the first time in Asia-Pacific that Facebook is rolling out a high decibel campaign of this stature. It is built on the core belief that people can do more together, than alone.