OLX teaches how, on YouTube

Developed by ITSA Brand Innovations, the campaign has a set of 11 videos that demonstrate how to place an ad for bikes, books, cars, hair dryers and laptops on OLX.in.

Online classifieds site OLX.in has launched a digital advertising campaign on YouTube where it showcases a host of 31-second videos that aim to make it easy for the user to post an ad on the platform.

The content of the campaign is exclusively created for broadcast on YouTube. Developed by ITSA Brand Innovations, the campaign has a set of 11 videos that demonstrate how to place an ad for a bike, books, cars, hair dryers, laptops and others on OLX.in. The creative follows a constant pattern with a witty beginning followed by the protagonist Mrs. Bech De guiding viewers about the best practices at OLX.

Mrs. Bech De is the company's mascot in its online campaigns and was first used in its Valentines' Day campaign featuring three webisodes addressing distressed owners writing eulogies for things they have lived with but now seek to dispose or upgrade.

According to the company, unlike most of the other campaigns on YouTube which are merely an extension of the TV campaigns, this multi-video campaign has been developed specifically keeping YouTube's audience in mind. "The video content delivers the brand message in the initial five seconds and creates a hook for customers to see the rest of the ad. The user will see ads specific to his categories of interest, which makes it even more relevant and engaging," OLX states in an official communiqué.

The company further informs that through the topic-based YouTube campaign, targeted viewers will be made aware of various relevant categories of products which could be sold or bought on OLX. This makes this campaign very effective and relevant for the viewer.

Speaking about the idea behind the campaign, Amarjit Singh Batra, CEO, OLX India, states, "Our initial TV ads and messaging of 'Sab Kuch Bikta Hai' and 'OLX pe bech de' have immense brand recall and highlight a clear user preference for the brand despite the clutter in the online classifieds space. Building up from here, we want to take our advertising a step further and supplement our advertising reach with other mass media channels. We are positive about the campaign as YouTube is now among the most popular media being consumed by our target audience."

"Our challenge was how to communicate a message even before you skip the ad. So I am really delighted that we managed to do just that and more. Each of these spots have a story, humour, twist and branding within five seconds. And if you don't skip, then there is more humour and the whole ‘how to' about OLX," informs Emmanuel Upputuru, founder, ITSA . He further informs that Daniel Upputuru came up with this idea and Arnab Ray wrote these scripts. Ayan Das directed it and Aurnob Godinho from ITSA produced it.

OLX, in the past, has used digital campaigns quite extensively to promote its platform. Besides the Valentines' Day campaign featuring Mrs. Bech De, the company, in May, had launched a campaign urging people to donate their personal belongings and items they don't require to financially needy mothers.

In March, OLX parted ways with creative agency Saatchi after its contract with Saatchi ended. Following this, it appointed Lowe Lintas as its creative partner. However, ITSA continues to work on the brand as an innovation agency.

The brand also promoted its platform on TV through a brand integration with Bollywood movie, Ghanchakkar.