Few years back I could not stop myself from watching the same ads again & again, when a bunch of kids were imitating elders with a pinch of subtle humor. I am referring to the Flipkart advertisements, in which little boys with artificial moustaches placed perfectly on their face, and girls with full makeup dressed up like adults giving best shopping advice.
The uniqueness and innocence of these Flipkart kids made people like me watch the complete advertisement. The kids successfully portrayed the different kinds of fashion shoppers based on occasions, needs, age, occupation, etc.
This Flipkart Kids campaign was created by Bengaluru-based Happy mcgarrybowen. The brief that was given to them was: Flipkart wanted to build trust. It wanted to build the online shopping category in India. And it wanted to do this by communicating three features of Flipkart — cash-on-delivery, 30-day replacement guarantee, and original products with warranty.
As per Piyush Pandey, one of India’s celebrated ad gurus, there are three sure-shot approaches that work in advertising: Kids, senior citizens, and animals. Kartik Iyer, Co-founder and CEO of Happy mcgarrybowen, went with kids.
According to Kartik, “Kids are smart. They know everything. Their hand-and-eye coordination is better. Their brains are uncluttered. You tell them something, they understand. You want them to imitate, they imitate. Unbelievable, these kids were. You put some facial hair on them, and they start behaving like adults!”
Kids sell everything today. There is hardly any product left on this planet that is not being sold by a kid.
Like its service, Flipkart broke the clutter in television advertising, too, by portraying kids who acted like adults. These kids dealt with issues of online shopping reluctance, online payment fears, they introduced new categories, services and promoted the brand, remaining cute, funny and extremely effective all this while. I love the ‘India wants to know’ set of ads where a kid aptly plays Arnab (Goswami) dominating five others in the inset boxes.
The series ends with him saying ‘Ab sirf shopping nahin, Flipkart karo’ (Don’t just shop, do Flipkart) creating a verb out of the brand. The three-generation ad is the most adorable where the kid playing the daughter-in-law replies to her husband’s query on buying a product looking at pictures, by saying “Shaadi se pehle aapka bhi sirf photo hi dekha” (even I decided to marry you by just looking at your picture).
To use kids who sounded and acted like adults was a master stroke, apart from subconsciously instilling a message that the shopping on Flipkart is simple as child’s play, the kids took a dig at funny adult behavior without offending them; on the contrary, making them laugh at themselves and subtly change their perceptions.
Dubbed ‘No Kidding No Worries’, the Flipkart Kids campaign made advertising history. They were funny and memorable. They started conversations. And they sealed the deal when it came to brand recall. Happy also thought up the tagline ‘The Online Megastore’ that introduced Flipkart to Indian television audiences. You can read more about this campaign here on Flipkart Stories; How Happy and Flipkart birthed the Flipkart Kids.
I’m sure, by now, there must be many more innovative ads coming up in your mind. Please do share with me.
