WeWork’s new ads: a re-pitch or something more?

CMO Majumder and Fundamental co-founder Chakravarti explain the brand’s four-ad campaign.

After watching WeWork’s new four-ad campaign, one might reasonably ask why the co-working space provider, which has been present in India since 2017, as if it is selling itself again for the first time.

Four ads, all under 45 seconds in length, show common office scenes and how WeWork has the solution to them. The key bit in all ads is seeing the boss standing surprised because they were clueless that WeWork offered such facilities.

But it’s not WeWork’s first-ever ad in the country. Reimagine Your Workspace dropped in 2018, setting the pace for co-working spaces in the country. In 2022, Great Inspires Great told everybody how great things are built by people working out of a WeWork.

One should also note that as per an ET report from June 2024, the Competition Commission of India (CCI) approved WeWork Inc's proposal to sell its 27% stake in the Indian unit and “investors comprising the Enam group family office, investment fund A91 Partners, and CaratLane founder Mithun Sacheti are investing in WeWork India.”

Turns out, none of these were the reasons. The campaign, conceived and executed by indie creative agency Fundamental, was more of an awareness exercise than anything else. WeWork India chief marketing officer Debosmita Majumder and Fundamental co-founder and chief creative officer Pallavi Chakravarti provide more details to afaqs about this campaign.

Going by the four ads, one feels WeWork is pitching itself to customers once again.

Majumder: I don’t understand why you consider it a fresh start because WeWork’s maiden campaign came out in 2018, and we had another big one in 2022.

Today, we have many large enterprises, especially Fortune 500 companies, working out of our spaces. Conversations with our sales and community teams on the floor told us many of these users didn’t quite understand or know the breadth of our offerings and what we do.

For example, our customisation ad dispelled the notion some potential members had that if they came into WeWork, their office would look like WeWork. Addressing the gap between reality and awareness was our goal.

Why not focus on the decision-makers than telling tales of in-office happenings?

Chakravarti: It was a shocker to Fundamental that, despite having worked out of a WeWork for over a year now, we did not know much about the length and breadth of the brand’s offerings.

Therefore, we identified the need for myth-busting earlier than the creative phase. It was very clear cut: the creative strategy was signed and sealed before we started thinking about scripts.

The scripts came out at the end. It wasn’t like, ‘Hey, let’s do something fun.’ It wasn’t how the process started, although it tends to happen because you get your hands on the nearest joke or gag and decide that this is going to be eyeball-grabbing, so let’s go ahead with it.

In essence, we aim to convey that this office space is accessible to all. If there is a universality in who the offering is for, then there should be a universality to the creative as well. While everybody is definitely not a decision-maker, people really are invested in where their office is.

Majumder: From an approach perspective, we felt the situations chosen were very relatable, and the audience we were speaking to would find them entertaining and informative.

Hybrid, all-day office goers… Whom are you particularly targeting with this campaign?

Majumder: We wanted to talk about how our products could cater to anybody who is thinking of a hybrid model or if someone wants to take up an office space where they would actually want to look at what is the optimised resource with lots of flexibility.

Flexibility has become a way of working for most corporations today, and what we offer is the best flexible workspace solution. So, it’s up to them how they want to utilise it.

How tempted were you to choose an over-the-top creative route for the campaign?

Chakravarti: I just want to understand how much brand-building actually happens for those who go over the top (OTT). Such work gets a lot of claps and whistles from friends, family, and the fraternity, but what’s it actually doing for the brand?

I think you can tell people about your brand while making them laugh and engage. I actually had a client message me saying, “We work Saturdays,” with a tear emoji. Given the response we’ve had for this campaign, I don’t see that the two are mutually exclusive.

I’m a firm believer that functional is not equal to boring.

How challenging was it to put out all the information in 45-second ads?

Chakravarti: 45 seconds was actually a leisurely told story. If you look at our 30-second edits, you’ll find they’re just as entertaining and pack in the same amount of information. We needed to avoid information overload by not loading it all at once.

Where will these ads land?

Majumder: We’ve worked on a very sharp media campaign that is YouTube-heavy, and the ads will land on some of the OTT platforms. We also looked at Spotify and financial media because our audience is present there.

Will WeWork bookings decide the effectiveness of the campaign?

Majumder: You cannot look at more bookings directly. We are definitely looking at the kind of leads the campaign is bringing, the quality of leads coming in, and the website visits. We also monitor inbound walk-ins and calls.

WeWork had the first-mover advantage; how do you appraise your rivals today?

Majumder: Any sector would have many players; the same is true for co-working. Being the first-movers, we are very clear on how we want to move forward. From a marketing perspective, I think the focus has been on being out there, communicating the right message, putting things out more creatively, and trying to be top-of-mind.