Flipkart: Just kidding

The e-commerce portal has returned with a television campaign which aims to educate consumers about the ease of shopping on Flipkart, which offers guarantee of original products, cash-on-delivery and a 30-day replacement policy. Through the campaign, Flipkart targets a new set of consumers, mainly people who have not shopped online yet.

Online e-commerce companies took television screens by storm last year as they advertised about the various things, from books to household goods and electronic items that can be purchased online. Amongst them, Flipkart cast an effective impression, thanks to its interesting television campaign. The series of films featured children acting like adults and discussing how various things can be easily bought from Flipkart. The TVCs ended with the tagline, 'No kidding, no worries'.

This year, the e-commerce portal has launched a campaign that aims to educate consumers about the ease of shopping on Flipkart. The campaign highlights the advantages offered by the portal, including guarantee of original products, cash-on-delivery and 30-day replacement policy. Through the campaign, Flipkart targets a new set of consumers, mainly people who have not shopped online yet.

Conceptualised by Bengaluru-based Happy Creative Services, the two television commercials showcase two different set-ups. The first one, titled 'Three Generations', shows a family collecting a courier delivery.

The second TVC, titled 'Replacement', shows a husband complaining about a faulty DVD player which was bought from Flipkart.

Ravi Vora, vice-president, marketing, Flipkart, says, "So far, we addressed a target group that had already shopped online and was aware of its nuances. Now, to further expand the consumer base, we are going to an audience that hasn't experienced online shopping at all. The objective here is to build basic awareness about online shopping and also reinforce the benefits of trust and reliability."

Interestingly, the creative agency has retained the original concept of portraying kids as adults, an idea which was liked earlier but now could lead to viewer fatigue. Kartik Iyer, CEO, Happy Creative Services, reasons, "We have taken a certain brand language forward. Considering that the concept did so well, we strongly felt that it had more life. Also, the current campaign is targeted at a different audience - those who don't buy anything online. You will notice that the campaign is all Hindi and is set in a more middle class surrounding. The media plan, too, is skewed to GEC channels, whereas the earlier campaign was only on niche channels. We strongly believe a large audience will see the brand and the campaign treatment for the first time."

On changing the tagline from 'No kidding, no worries' to 'Shopping ka naya address', Iyer says that the campaign aims to make Flipkart a preferred shopping destination. "The double edged nature of the line works to suggest www.flipkart.com as the new address for shopping and home as the best place to shop from," adds Iyer.

Getting the act right!

Interestingly, the new campaign has evoked two sets of reactions. While one group believes that the same set-up has led to lack of freshness, the other group is of the opinion that the portal has hit the right code once again.

Shiveshwar Raj Singh, group creative director, Draftfcb Ulka, says, "The first time we saw two kids having a real grown up discussion for Flipkart, it was novel, charming and wonderfully tied up by the line 'No kidding, no worries'. This round, which continues the campaign, suffers a little because first, the novelty's worn off, and second, the dialogues are not half as nicely crafted. Also, 'Shopping ka naya address' has nothing to do with making online shopping child's play. The first series had a memorable line - 'That's a classic'. This follow-up series, sadly, is not."

In contrast, Divyapratap Mehta, vice-president, planning, Grey is of the opinion that both the TVCs are finely crafted. "The nuances and banter between the husband and wife is engaging. They carry forward the Flipkart flavour from the earlier TVCs - an example of a consistent personality across multiple creatives. They have identified the problem, have an interesting creative strategy of kids talking like adults, which is both attention grabbing and showcases the fact that it's simple and safe to shop online. The communication addresses most apprehensions consumers have on shopping online, making e-commerce child's play," adds Mehta.