Decoding India's Best Marketing Campaigns of 2020

From Burger King to CRED to Facebook, India’s best marketing campaigns of pandemic year for each month!

January - | Swiggy #WhatTheFalooda

Replacing the F word with Falooda? Mattar Pulao? Bhindi Masala?

To drive a conversation and build greater empathy with customer care executives, Swiggy launched #WhatTheFalooda campaign in January. Through this campaign, Swiggy showed how consumers forget that executives are human too and blasphemous words can hurt them deeply.

This campaign evoked the conscious thought and more people associated with it. The new extension worked across browsers without disrupting the user experience. A mixture of marketing and the right technology can create a long-lasting impact.

February – Burger King | #LonelyNoMore

It sucks to be lonely, especially on Valentine’s day, right? Burger King India’s Valentine’s Day campaign revolved around clicking selfie with rival McDonald’s “lonely man” for a free Whopper.

The video simply shows the mascot in different places, sitting alone, cutting a dejected figure. The iconic fast-food’s chain ad was released with a pre-buzz post and garnered tons of eyeballs among singles.

March – Ariel | #SharetheLoad

Continuing to the existing campaign, this ad shows how the unequal division of household chores is keeping women awake. It urges the men of society to Share the Load. The brand promotes progressive thinking that should be inculcated in every home. This is a step towards change where the brand is used to break the stereotype through a minimal transformation.

April – Dettol | Wash Hands for 20 seconds with Soap

An arresting 29-second advertisement to wash hands with Dettol for 20 seconds created a long-lasting impact on people under lockdown. Starring Lara Dutta Bhupathi, Sania Mirza and Shikhar Dhawan, this ad was completely shot by the influencers. With COVID-19 cases surging day by day in April, this ad with its jingle urged people to regularly wash hands to avoid infection.

May – Wildcraft | #HainTaiyaarHum

Who knew the most essential thing in 2020 would turn out to be a Mask?

With Lockdown 4.0 coming to end, Wildcraft launched Hain Taiyaar Hum campaign by introducing a new range of safety products. Created by Ogilvy India, it encouraged people to step out with confidence and be ready to face anything. It was a clarion call to people who wants to follow their passion keeping the safety norms in mind.

June – Manforce Condoms | #BetterEndings

Do you know 20 million babies are expected to be born in India between March and December?

During the nationwide lockdown, couples were stuck together with a lot of time to spend with each other. Launched as Father’s Day campaign, Manforce warned the public to avoid fatherhood situation post lockdown in a creative way.

July – WhatsApp | #ItsBetweenYou

When 1.3 billion people were put into lockdown, WhatsApp served as a crucial lifeline with people relying on the platform to communicate with their friends and family. The ad aimed to just ‘Cut it Out’ through texts, video calls, or even a voice message and bring people closer replicating in-person conversations.

August – upGrad | Sirf Naam ki Nahi, Kaam ki Degree | #DontBeAChaatu

People believe that to climb the ladder of success in the corporate world, one must become a ‘Chaatu’. The advertisement features a donkey getting licked by people to get ahead in life. upGrad sends a strong message that with their online courses one can develop a strong foothold in their career.

The ad was also trending on Twitter & Youtube and was played during cricket matches to garner more users.

September – Dream11 | #YeApnaGameHai

September marked the beginning of brands leveraging the biggest festival of India – Indian Premier League 2020. This IPL was special and came as a hope for viewers all around the world. As VIVO paused the partnership for the 13th edition to be held in the United Arab Emirates, Dream11 bagged the title sponsorship for IPL 2020 for Rs. 222 Cr.

Bombarding both the digital and TV screens, the fantasy sports startup launched a series of relatable moments with stars like MS Dhoni, Rohit Sharma, Hardik Pandya, Rishabh Pant. The ads totally captured the essence of gully cricket and try to imply that rules of gully cricket are the same for all, no matter how big the star is. ‘Ye Mein Kar leta hoon, aap jab tak Dream11 pe team bana lo’ worked as a masterstroke resulting in an average 41 lakh views on each of the 7 ads.

October – CRED | Not Everyone gets it

Download CRED, CRED Download!

Is there an intelligent way to pitch your services along with downloading an app?

In the ads, Anil Kapoor, Govinda, Bappi Lehri brought home the message of paying credit card bills on time in their unique and inimitable manner. Even the ad description on YouTube stated, “One thing is clear though: we are not in the ad making business, we are in the credit card business.”

Like Dream11, CRED also bombarded print and digital media. It also ensured that the right message conveyed across the right target segment.

What followed were retweets, shares and comments which appreciated CRED’s unique cashback offers for paying credit card bills.

Did you know the campaign did not have any agency involvement?

November – Facebook | More Together – Pooja Didi

Can social media be used for the betterment of society?

Facebook’s ad of 7:23 minutes which revolves around Pooja, owner of Pooja Milk Centre, hires people whose job got laid off due to COVID-19 pandemic through a Facebook post. Though the business was rough, Pooja ‘Didi’ remained adamant and helped her employees. Her employees uploaded their Didi’s video on Facebook which turned out to be a game-changer.

Viewers tend to see duration before viewing an advertisement. But, in this case, the first few seconds created the intrigue for me and then it kept me riveted as the central plot struck a chord.

The quirky eccentricity and the emotional story racked up more than 2.85 Cr views on YouTube since being launched.

So, Facebook, I guess you have cracked the formula” Kuch aisa kaam karo ke Dukaan Choti pe jaaye”

December – Facebook | Fuel For India - Nayi Shuruwat

Promoting the Facebook Fuel India 2020, Facebook weaved the stories of successful startups, Sleepy Owl, Doodlage, The Moms Co. combating the COVID-19 pandemic. When operations stopped and people were locked how Facebook community facilitated startups to find their way once again. Created by Wunderman Thompson, the ad concluded by promoting, “Ek Nayi Shuruwat” on Facebook Community.

Honourable mentions – Unacademy: Cracking the Game, Cadbury Celebrations #NotJustACadburyAd, Google Nest Mini, Motilal Oswal – Skin in the Game, Dukaan #EkNayiShuruwat