Parle’s smart SEO strategy helps amplify Diwali campaign on digital
While Diwali is a festival that brings families together, this year saw a disruption in festivities, too, because of the pandemic, with many away from their loved ones and not being able to celebrate Diwali together. Picking up on people’s experiences of celebrating festivals and staying connected even when apart this year, Parle Products released a series of short digital films showcasing celebrations in the new normal.
The campaign – #DiwaliAurParle – revolves around 4 short digital films and 1 main film capturing the Diwali celebrations in the new normal through video calls and the familiarity of Parle Products, an integral part of every household bringing everyone together.
These 20-second videos were search engine optimised to pop up when one searched for Diwali videos on Diwali styles, making a rangoli, making sweets or decorating the house.
In addition to the social media posts, Parle Products also chose top 3 comments from the Instagram posts and sent over boxes of Parle Occasions to the people they missed on their behalf.
In conversation with Adgully, Krishnarao Buddha, Senior Category Head, Parle Products, speaks at length about the campaign objective, understanding the consumers’ sentiments in these times and powering their SEO strategy for the Diwali campaign.
Please take us through the creative ideation process behind these films? How were they shot and which agency has conceptualised the campaign?
We worked closely with our digital agency Please See, who came to us with a thought that this year, Diwali is going to be very different and many people will not be able to celebrate it with their families due to the pandemic. To adapt to the current times, people are now celebrating digitally, eating together on video calls and trying to keep the celebrations as festive as they were in the years prior.
The idea for this campaign was to take this thought further, because we understand that Diwali is all about family, and Diwali family ke saath hi poori hoti hain. Since Parle is a brand that is in every Indian household – this way, we become the common link that connects a family together, no matter how far away they are. We leveraged our ‘Occasions’ range of gift boxes to bring this thought forward too in a very festive way. Following through on these insights, we looked at the most searched questions on Google during Diwali – discovering recipes, do-it-yourself rangoli videos, Diwali fashion tips and decor ideas at home were found to be the most searched. This is how we ended up creating a series of short films around these themes, following the Diwali preparations of a family getting ready to celebrate together – all of them gracefully shot by Handykraft Pictures. Each video ended with a line that said ‘To be continued’, telling people there’s more to this family’s celebrations.
The final video released at the end reveals that the members of this family have actually been preparing for the festival through video calls and were never in the same place altogether. The video concludes by showing all members of the family in their own homes, celebrating with boxes of Parle Occasions that they’ve sent to each other.
As a consumer brand, we understand that Diwali is all about family, and we wanted to be that link that connects them to their loved ones, no matter how far away they are. We opted for this campaign to be digital-specific, because with growing digital emphasis and dramatic increase in audience presence, our consumers have shifted their footprint to an extent and we wanted to be where the audience is.
How are you complementing this campaign with other marketing activities?
To create excitement on social media and connect our audience to this family celebrating Diwali, we created a series of posts introducing the family members, engaging the audience with interactive content using Instagram Stories and more – all of it, welcoming and kick-off festivity to our social media profiles. We also aimed to make Diwali special for a select audience who couldn’t be with their families this year out of social obligation, by sending them boxes of Parle Occasions.
What was your media strategy?
Our media strategy was to utilise SEO tools and reach out to an audience on all platforms looking at Diwali-related content. We also published engaging and activity-driven posts on our page whilst running promotions to ensure that we reach a large number of people and they participate while welcoming festive feelings.
What was the response received for this campaign?
We’ve already received lots and lots of love, with people appreciating the films and our way of celebrating Diwali this year. Their love for the brand is quite humbling and it is seen when they engage with our posts, which aren’t necessarily contest-related posts. We are glad to bring excitement and festive thrills to our audience’s screens.
Share
Facebook
YouTube
Tweet
Twitter
LinkedIn