How Dell Technologies is enabling everyone to celebrate the festivals their own way

As festive ardour fuels across the country, Dell Technologies, has rolled out it festive campaign, titled, #ApnaWalaFestival. Reaffirming Dell’s commitment to fostering meaningful innovation, the campaign is aimed at spreading the message of passion, compassion, and optimism. The campaign also emphasizes the role of technology in empowering people to celebrate festivals in their own unique ways via Dell's versatile technology solutions.

The campaign’s three digital films show how Dell’s laptops, the Inspiron 16 2-in-1 and XPS 13 Plus, help the characters redefine their celebrations. The first video, titled ‘A Debbie Wala Festival,’ tells the story of Debbie, a young girl who wants to wear her favourite football jersey over a saree on Ashtami, but her mother is not convinced. Debbie’s sister uses the Inspiron 16 2-in-1 to design a one-of-a-kind ‘jersey-saree’ for Debbie, allowing her to express herself while also pleasing their mother. ‘A Raunak Wala Festival’ depicts a young boy who is disappointed because he is unable to return home for the festival of Diwali, but finds kindness and comfort from fellow train passengers while remaining connected with this family via his Dell laptop. The third film, ‘A Diya Wala Festival,’ tells the story of a man who uses his XPS laptop to make emoji-shaped sweets to welcome his to-be partner’s daughter to the family.

Conceptualised and developed by the creative agency VMLY&R, the campaign will be amplified on OLV in Hinglish, Tamil, Telugu, and Bengali languages and across OTT platforms such as Hotstar, SonyLIV, Voot, ZEE5 ,among others in Hinglish. Dell is also working with micro-influencers to encourage them to share their festive stories to broaden the campaign’s reach even further. Furthermore, in keeping with its ethos of putting customers first, Dell Technologies will invite customers to share their celebration stories using the hashtag #ApnaWalaFestival. The UGC campaign will run on Dell’s social media platforms, and the best stories will be rewarded.

Through this innovative and meaningful storytelling, Dell takes the viewers through a sweet journey giving a taste of reasons to celebrate life a little more. Dell will provide an additional two years of warranty along with goodies across their product lines at Dell Exclusive Stores, Dell.com, multi-brand outlets, and large format retail as a part of the campaign. Dell will also offer 5-10 per cent cashbacks on selected XPS/ Alienware products.

In conversation with Adgully, Mayuri Saikia, Director of Marketing (Consumer), Dell Technologies, India, elaborates on the core thought behind the #ApnaWalaFestival campaign, the strong digital-first strategy, omnichannel marketing approach, and more. Edited excerpts:

What is the core thought behind the campaign #ApnaWalaFestival?

For this campaign, we went through various insights on today’s consumers. Earlier, we used to think that festival meant large families getting together, but today, families are very different. However, what has not changed is the emotions attached to festivals. The feeling that seeps in once it is September. Because right from the August-September period, we all start to feel that no matter in what kind of family we are and no matter where we are, we just celebrate it.

With technology coming into our lives, it has made celebrations more seamless, helping us enjoy the festivals in the way we want to. That is the theme running through our campaign #ApnaWalaFestival, that no matter what festival it is, you just celebrate it. So, we have presented three scenarios. The first, woven around Durga Puja, showcases a common scenario where parents and kids argue over what the latter will wear for the festivals. This is where technology comes in and solves the issue, making everyone happy.

In the second film, #Diyawalafestival, we have showcased the changing face of relationships, where even though it is a disjointed family, they are very much connected. The man goes out of his way to make the little daughter of his lady love from an earlier relationship, feel welcome by making her emoji-shaped sweets. He makes these sweets with the help of technology.

In the third film, we show how festivals bring people, even strangers, together. A young guy, travelling on a train on Diwali, remains connected with his family through his laptop. But there’s also a larger family of fellow-passengers, who join him and his family to celebrate Diwali away from home.

That’s the beauty of India – no matter with whom we are or where we are, we all have our ways of celebrating. We are really looking forward to people connecting with this campaign, as after two years of Covid disruptions, everybody is really looking forward to celebrating in a big way.

What are the key things that the customers can expect from Dell this festive season?

We really wanted to connect with the consumers during the festivals and the beauty of it is that though the three films are different, they are joined under one umbrella, which is #ApnaWalaFestival, and internally, many of us could connect to one film or the other. In the ad film on the young guy on the train, we showcased the Dell Inspiron 16 2-in-1 laptop, which is a very good size for a large family. Also, if you observe, the guy is watching a film and staying in touch with his family at the same time. So, it shows how technology and Dell as a leader here is bringing everybody together to celebrate the festivities.

What was the ideation process and research behind this campaign like?

It involved talking to friends and family, and doing a lot of brainstorming, as well as connecting with today’s consumers. Every family is different, and within a family every member is different too. Their hopes and aspirations are different, the way they celebrate festivals is different. However, it is technology that is bringing people closer by offering seamless connections.

How is Dell leveraging the digital medium to promote the campaign?

We are going very heavy on digital, in fact, our campaign is digital-first. We will be there on OTT platforms such as Hotstar, SonyLIV, Voot, ZEE5, to name a few. We will also have a strong presence on YouTube because today’s consumers are seeing or consuming a lot of content on this platform. We will go across markets in multiple languages such as Hinglish, Tamil, Telugu, Bengali, etc.

What have been the other marketing activities undertaken by Dell this year?

We had two major campaigns in the last six months – ‘Back to School’ and ‘Back to College’ campaigns, collectively known as ‘Yeh Hai Padhai 2.O’. Targetted at students, the campaigns were based on students’ insights as to how technology has become an integral part of their lives, as well as how Dell can become an integral part of their lives.

It is not only about their studies, but also whatever passion that drives them. Technology now helps them achieve those passions in a much better way. Technology is also revolutionising studies in a way that students can now take up any class and learn from not just across the country, but across the globe as well. Thus, it has become a seamless part of their development.

How is Dell increasing its reach with its customers?

Customers can buy Dell products from anywhere – our brand website Dell.com, or our Dell Exclusive Stores (we’ve got around 632 stores in India), or large format retail stores such as Croma and Reliance, or buy from any e-commerce websites like Amazon and Flipkart. Customers can find and buy a Dell product as per their convenience.

For marketing, we follow an omnichannel approach. For us, consumer is always first. We reach out to them, inform them about what we have to offer and what best suits them. Then they can go and buy from any of our channels.

How has the market growth been?

As per International Data Corporation (IDC), the PC market shipped around 3.7 million units in Q2 FY2022, a YOY growth of around 17.8%. So, the market has been good as we look at the numbers.