Flipkart Promotes BBD Sale with Virtual Reality & Sound Recognition Game Starring Amitabh Bachchan
Flipkart promoted their Big Billion Days sale recently, with a mobile-led interactive campaign featuring a Virtual Reality (VR) and Sound Recognition game. Designed by mCanvas, the experiential storytelling ad platform for small screens, the ad experience was extended to a microsite that allowed users to play 3 different levels of the game, engaging users in an innovative manner.
While promoting the Big Billion Days sale, Flipkart tied-in the auspiciousness of the full moon, with the theme ‘Deals Ka Chand’. “We visualized the concept of the campaign and were very keen to rope-in the significance of the moon, while promoting the sale,” Saumya Bhatnagar, Senior Manager Brand Marketing, Flipkart said. “Our concept for Flipkart was brought to life with this ad campaign. We are thrilled that VR was incorporated into the ad, because it thoroughly engaged users and put a different spin on the ad, which is refreshing,” he continued. India, being a culturally rich country, reveres the moon across a number of religious denominations. To illustrate, for Karva Chauth, the sighting of the full moon is used as a marker to culminate the abstinence from food. Similarly, during Ramadan, the position of the moon during the day is observed as a marker to begin and end a fast.
Based on the significance that the moon holds, the idea of the campaign was to build a strong connection between the sale and full moon. To highlight the full moon, the campaign opened with a copy ‘Made wishes to the moon?’, alongside an image of Amitabh Bachchan, which then changed to ‘Now make a shopping wish!’.
The campaign ran when there was no full moon, and to compensate for this, the creative featured a full moon in a Virtual Reality, that users were prompted to find, after clicking the ‘Play Now’ CTA and panning their phones. Once found, dense clouds covered it and users were encouraged to blow into the phone’s microphone. Using real-time sound recognition technology, the gush of air moved the clouds away, revealing an exciting offer from the sale. The ad experience extended to a microsite that featured all 3 levels of the game, which users could share on social media, and was also directly promoted by the brand simultaneously with the mobile ad.
Reaching almost 5 million users, the campaign saw an impressive 2% click-through rate, which is 10 times the 0.20% industry average for mobile banners. Users spent 7 seconds, on average, while engaging with the creative. Commenting on the exceptional results, Bhoomi Vyas, Associate Digital Director, Essence said, “Conceptualizing captivating ad experiences for brands like Flipkart is thoroughly exciting. With a multiplicity of mobile-led ad formats to choose from, creating unique, technology-driven ad campaigns is now possible, and it also plays a vital role in building a strong brand connection.”
Shedding light on the innovations used in the campaigns, Vishal Rupani, Co-Founder & CEO, mCanvas added, “Advertising on a mobile device lends itself to a plethora of creative opportunities. When it came to creating something innovative for Flipkart, building this unique virtual reality game in the campaign, with the mindset to garner engagement among users and create an impact, worked well for the brand.”