Media

How Mumbai Police is teaching brands new rules of engagement


Social media today has come to mean many things to different people – a message medium, a connecting platform, a meeting place for like-minded people, a news and information platform, entertainment and gaming platform. 

There are many, especially celebs, who are widely followed on Twitter. Among these is one very unlikely organisation that has been gaining huge traction on Twitter – Mumbai Police. One wouldn’t normally associate a crime fighting law & order body amassing a growing number of followers and admirers on a social media platform like Twitter. But Mumbai Police has been able to pull off a remarkable feat and in the process has also shown brands a way to effectively utilise social media. 

@MumbaiPolice has aced their social media game in terms of the understanding of their audience, messaging, tonality and of course, the timing. The copies are funny and this is exactly the kind of content today’s youth consumes. Using popular memes and Bollywood references in the creatives adds another level of relatability. 

Using wit and humour and very prompt responses, Mumbai Police has been able to create awareness about some very serious issues prevalent today, such as cyber safety, safety for women, saying no to drugs, obeying traffic rule and much more. 

@Adgully spoke to some leading industry experts to find out what brands can learn from Mumbai Police’s Twitter activism. 

Quick response time 

KV Sridhar, Founder & Chief Creative Officer Hyper Collective.
KV Sridhar, Founder & Chief Creative Officer Hyper Collective.

“If you don’t respond within 5 minutes, you get lost in the timeline,” warns KV Sridhar (@kvpops), Founder & Chief Creative Officer Hyper Collective. According to him, Twitter is not exactly an intellectual platform; of course it is in a way, but it is very spontaneous. It is a conversational spontaneous platform and, depending upon how many followers you have or how many people you follow, the timeline runs very quickly. Thus, people need to have a quick response time. 

Agreeing with him are Rajiv Dingra (@rajivdingra), Founder and CEO, WATConsult, and Shibu Shivanandan, Founder & CEO, PivotRoots. Dingra praised Mumbai Police for being prompt, quirky and to the point, which has helped them stand out and make their point without delaying or deflecting. 

Shivnandan pointed out, “Everything happens quickly in the world of social media. Research says that over 4 lakh tweets are sent every minute. So, for brands it becomes imperative to resolve queries and complaints real-time. Keeping people waiting only adds to their frustration and reflects negatively on the brand. Having first level response handy helps in such situations.” 

Always on 

Sridhar noted here that the problem with brands is quite a few of them log off during weekends. Moreover, some brands don’t have the governance on their own social media platforms as they have given it to their own employees or social media agencies and so on. They want to control everything that goes out. As governance becomes an issue and so the response time becomes an issue. 

Harish Bijoor, Brand Guru & Founder, Harish Bijoor Consults Inc
Harish Bijoor, Brand Guru & Founder, Harish Bijoor Consults Inc

Highlighting this point further, Harish Bijoor (@harishbijoor), Brand Guru & Founder, Harish Bijoor Consults Inc, said, “We live in the age of Digitalism. Everything is digital, as are the people who live and thrive in society. Big cities are to that extent more percolated by mediums such as Twitter, and it is only right that Mumbai Police uses this 280-character medium to good advantage. Mumbai Police is a 24x7 establishment, with a repute that is enviable. Twitter is a 24x7 medium as well, and if we are to believe the India Night Lights data, the Mumbaikar is a 24x7 entity as well. The fit of Mumbai police to Twitter and to the Mumbaikar in turn, is a perfect one. Hats off Mumbai Police!” 

Address, don’t skirt the issue 

Making a pertinent point here, Sridhar said, “First humble thing one can do is accept that there was an issue. Even if there was no issue, a brand cannot straight away go ahead and say that the brand or the product cannot fail like this, but instead look at what has happened and know what the problem is. When there is a problem, the brands must first look into it and then respond very clearly to the audiences.” 

He cited a recent example of fake news regarding ‘rubber’ in a popular brand of flour. The brand came out spoke to its consumers and explained to them by not just trying to defend themselves but accepting and addressing the issue. “Another step that be taken is to get a qualified person to defend you properly. If there is a problem with the product, get your R&D head to handle and fix it, they get more source credibility than a salesman doing it. So, it is very important for the right person to respond to those queries to maintain source credibility,” he added. 

Sridhar stressed that brands needed to change the way they had been using to respond to consumers’ issues. Brands today are using all their staff to propagate and use social media to talk to the people. 

He also cautioned against extensive use of bots to handle consumer issues as according to him, bots can respond only up to a certain extent and not to something that is specific. “Even if they have deeper cognitive bots with deeper learnings, it is still not aware of the human reaction, because humans can get away with a smiley or emoticon, but the moment you are trying to defend or postpone, then people will be put off,” he added. 

Citing an example, Sridhar elaborated, “If a car has faulty shock absorbers, the driver will crib on social media to never buy such a car and that it is a very bad car. In this case the bots will reply like, ‘We have noted your complaint and we will get back to you’. Whereas in case of humans, they will be able to give suggestions like ‘reduce the weight’, ‘avoid potholes’ or how to take care of one’s shock absorbers. The moment you make it a little more personalised and add a little more humour and respond immediately, it makes the consumer smile and understand that there’s a lot more than the car to be blamed here.” 

Crisis handling lessons 

Shibu Shivanandan, Founder & CEO, Pivotroots.
Shibu Shivanandan, Founder & CEO, Pivotroots.

According to Shivanandan (@shibudotcom), any crisis should be dealt with composure and logic. The brand/ agency must take charge of the situation by addressing the issue head-on. While the damage control is going on, the brand must focus on spreading positive conversations. At the same time, being vigilant about the chatter happening would help in avoiding such mishaps. The key is being pro-active and not reactive. 

“You need to learn to live in this world and need to learn to respond quickly and need to change your ecosystem and mindset,” said Sridhar. “When I leave a negative review about an ad campaign, everybody in the agency will feel very bad about it, but when you put it on YouTube and then look at those thousands of responses, how are you going to deal with that? If you can’t take my criticism, how are you going to take it from those thousands of people? Today, we are living in a Live world, where people respond and give their opinion and so you need to take everything with a pinch of salt. Now, I know within 3 hours if my ad is working or not,” he added. 

For Bijoor, brands can learn the skill of being 1:1, direct, non-preachy, factual, fun and with-it from Mumbai Police. 

 

Why so serious? 

Rajiv Dingra, Founder and CEO, WATConsult
Rajiv Dingra, Founder and CEO, WATConsult

Dingra has simple, yet relevant point to make – “you don’t have to sound serious to make a serious point. Humour works just as well”. 

“Bringing a smile on somebody’s face is the true essence of advertising. Emotions are eternal hooks that advertising has used emotions to its benefit,” said Arnab Mitra (@aurnobmitro), Managing Director, Liqvd Asia, adding, “Mumbai Police is doing both on Twitter. Connecting with people at a deeper level. One where there is existence of loyalty. Everything else is noise.”  

Sridhar, too, felt that it does not have to be taken so seriously as it is not a instruction manual or legal document which one is presenting on the Internet, because with these Internet tweets what the large companies do is to get it approved legally by brand managers, by marketing person, by corporate person, by R&D guys and so on and by the time one gets these approvals, it will already be three days. “So one should not take it so seriously and send the messages in such a way that it can bring a smile to your customer who is unhappy about you and then accept the quality publicly,” he maintained. 

Armed with wit & humour 

Shivanandan remarked that Mumbai Police’s Twitter presence is indeed a classic example of clever communication. “They have successfully managed to capture the attention of the audiences with a witty and humorous tonality in conveying messages that would otherwise come across as preachy. The entire campaign is driven by smart wordplay and pop-culture references which drives today’s youth.” 

According to him, what brands and agencies must understand, is the need of having one’s finger on the pulse of the audiences. It’s important to be cognizant of what’s happening around and tapping into those viral trends. “Always remember your word’s worth for the day,” he advised. 

In a similar vein, Sridhar noted, “Mumbai Police is combining information with a bit of humour. Some people have a very negative image for the police and think that they are not approachable, but when suddenly you see these tweets and you then feel like they are approachable, that’s when you take all those negatives out of there. Mumbai Police has taken this big step in changing their imagery in the minds of the people who think that they aren’t good enough or not approachable or cannot work efficiently, they are proving everyone wrong with what they are doing on Twitter.” 

He further said that there were hardly any brands that were doing that as brands were too scared. According to Sridhar, “There are two kinds of brands – One are the legacy brand, those that have the baggage of a certain image and a certain size; and then there are the other brands that can communicate with something funnier and little sarcastic and see how people respond.” 

He added, “Firstly, one needs to assign a role and know what Twitter is going to play in my life and in case of a brand, they need to know what role Twitter has to play for them. When it comes to perception, you can only change it by behaving in a certain way. Twitter has opened a platform for Mumbai Police to make this change in perception and for the citizens to react and the same thing goes with every brand as well. You must use the resources that you have and do exactly what you can’t do with other mediums.” 

Arnab Mitra, Managing Director, Liqvd Asia
Arnab Mitra, Managing Director, Liqvd Asia

“Mumbai Police has its act right, as its messaging is tailored to the audience profile. Its messaging is not pedantic. It is not top-down. It is literally peer to peer, and that’s fun,” pointed out Bijoor.

Making another relevant  point, Arnab Mitra of Liqvd Asia remarked that brands are too stuck up with something called “brand guidelines” – things that you are supposed to do and more importantly, things that you are not! Wit often is very spontaneous. And spontaneity is killed when one needs to check and balance. Wit is not a rare commodity, but it’s rarely used in advertising, because most often somebody at a brand’s side is burying one’s head under the guiding principles which are probably created in the era where dialogue platforms like social media, etc., were not even born. “Mumbai Police, on the other hand, is reaching out to a diverse audience on a daily basis by not limiting itself. They are in its true sense doing platform centric marketing. Horses for courses, as we say. Let’s say they are doing it right.” 

Air Asia – Brand perspective 

Ujjwal Shrivastava, Social Media and Content Manager, Air Asia
Ujjwal Shrivastava, Social Media and Content Manager, Air Asia

Ujjwal Shrivastava, Social Media and Content Manager, Air Asia, remarked, “Staying connected in the right sense with the audience is what the Mumbai Police has mastered. Mumbai Police does not send a barrage of messages that make it look pedantic. They connect with their followers by speaking with them and not at them.” 

According to him, timing and medium are key when one is trying to speak with an audience in the digital world. Keeping their content snack-able increases its stickiness and virality quotient. Mumbai Police has been customising the content to suit the medium and the audience’s attention span, which every marketer knows is ever-diminishing. “The Mumbai Police are definitely defining ‘Protect and Serve’ in India; a force that puts its people first,” he added. 

Addressing anyone’s concern is about listening first and then responding; the @MumbaiPolice handle is a great listener, which is a key takeaway for brands. “Every kind problem of the common man is heard and responded to proactively. What a common man looks forward to is being heard by the right authority, even if their problem is not resolved immediately,” Shrivastava pointed out. 

He further said, “They have bridged the gap beautifully between the common man and a force that used to be looked at unapproachable or someone who could not provide a resolution.” 

There is a significant lesson for brands in handling crisis as well. As Shrivastava noted, “Proactiveness and putting yourself on the line time and again for the people – it’s a winning combination that works in times of crisis.” 

How the Mumbai Police does it? 

Deven Bharti, Joint Commissioner, Law and Order
Deven Bharti, Joint Commissioner, Law and Order
 In a special interaction with Adgully, @Deven Bharti, Joint Commissioner (Law & Order), Mumbai Police, speaks about his department’s Twitter activism, the thought process behind the messages and more. 

What is the strategy behind Mumbai Police’s much talked about and shared Twitter activism? 
We would not call it strategy. but a genuine intent to put out content which connects the best with the citizens, because the whole idea of being on a platform like Twitter is to make the bond with citizens stronger.  

How do you conceptualise the witty messages? How does the team brainstorm? 
We meet regularly. We take inputs from our team that sits and monitors the handle 24/7 to understand what the users are talking about, what their reactions are and we plan content likewise. Wit is just a medium to create awareness on several concerning issues. It is ensured that the seriousness of any issue is never trivialised. Apart from the content, the response mechanism is our priority because in principle it has been agreed that every grievance has to be addressed and the best possible support must be provided.  

When the Twitter handle was first set up, did you imagine that one day it would garner such a huge number of followers? How do you react to the response received? 
We definitely wanted to connect to the maximum number of citizens and spread awareness and display the kind of work the police does, which often goes unnoticed. For the rest these numbers are followers, but for us it’s our team getting stronger with every number being added there. The more the merrier! 

Apart from the witty messages, Mumbai Police has been very prompt and proactive in addressing public issues or during problems like traffic jams, flooding, diversions and even warning against rumour mongers/ crime sprees/ data breaches. How is this achieved?
Helping people is the priority. Everything is designed around this sole mission. Content is also awareness to help people. Prompt response is also to help them the best. We work with the sole intent of serving Mumbai and its citizens to the best of our abilities, whether online or offline. We have a dedicated team to constantly monitor the handle and they are in constant touch with the main control room and local police stations and other authorities to send the message ahead to. It’s more like an online control room, where every user is connected to the concerned police station or other city authorities for redressal as soon as possible.

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