Expert Opinion: Flipkart's attempt to create emotional resonance with #ChooseYourAge

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Sneha Yadav
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Flipkart digital campaign

Taking a break from it's favourite 'Kidults', the latest Flipkart digital campaign chose to redefine age through #ChooseYourAge.

Notable for being perhaps the best pitcher in baseball history, Satchel Paige once said- How old would you be if you didn’t know how old you are’, which also formed the base for Flipkart’s #ChooseYourAge campaign idea conceived by Lowe Lintas Bangalore. The digital only campaign celebrates the spirit of New India – an India where people are challenging stereotypes and redefining the status quo which puts an interesting spin on how we think about age.

#ChooseYourAge

Flipkart realized that the biggest limiting belief is AGE itself. Very often we are told we are either Too Old or Too Young to do some things. Over a period of time this becomes our behavior and we deny ourselves many experiences and opportunities because of this.

“Taking forward our ethos of being a proud partner of progressive India, Flipkart wanted to change the way people think about age,” said Kartikeya Bhandari, Sr. Director, Marketing, Flipkart.

Objective

The core objective of the campaign is to transition from a purely functional connect with our shoppers and build a stronger, more emotive bond with them.

The two and a half minute film unveils 9 inspiring stories of people who have defied age-related stereotypes and pursued what brings them real joy.

Also Read: Campaign Face off: Amazon Prime Day vs Flipkart Big Shopping Days

Arun Iyer, Chairman and Chief Creative Officer, Lowe Lintas says, "Counting the biological years to tell our age is known to all of us. #ChooseYourAge, in complete antithesis, counts the number of experiences we've had or the times when we have really lived. The film celebrates living life, rightly showcasing that age doesn’t need to define what one can do, learn, wear, feel or achieve."

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Social Media Buzz

Flipkart utilized almost every social media platform including Facebook, YouTube, Twitter and Instagram to spread the core message behind the campaign and created engagement activities on all platforms. The video has garnered 14 million views on YouTube.

Further it went onto partnering with content creators like The Better India and Terribly Tiny Tales to create content around the topic which was shared through Facebook and Instagram.



Whether you want to travel the world or learn something new, age needn't be a factor when it comes to choosing what you want to do.  With Flipkart, we say that age is just a number, and you've all the right to #ChooseYourAge Visit https://terriblytinytales.typeform.com/to/FOskUN (link in bio) to submit your tales on defining your age, not by the year you were born but by the adventures you’ve had, the experiences you’ve shared, the life that you have lived. Khushi Bajaj (@frombehindtheinkyveil) from Lucknow writes a #Collaboration < 140 > on #ChooseYourAge #terriblytinytales #ttt #microfiction #wordporn #words #wordgasm #writer #author #poet #poem #writing #amwriting #writersofinstagram #writersofig #poetsofinstagram #writerscommunity #writingcommunity #poetrycommunity #instapoet #storytelling #stories #story

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Shreyash Amitabh from Patna writes a #Collaboration < 140 > on #ChooseYourAge Whether you want to travel the world or learn something new, age needn't be a factor when it comes to choosing what you want to do. With Flipkart (@Flipkart), we say that age is just a number, and you've all the right to #ChooseYourAge Visit https://terriblytinytales.typeform.com/to/FOskUN (Link in bio) to submit your tales on defining your age, not by the year you were born but by the adventures you’ve had, the experiences you’ve shared, the life that you have lived. #terriblytinytales #ttt #microfiction #wordporn #words #wordgasm #writer #author #poet #poem #writing #amwriting #writersofinstagram #writersofig #poetsofinstagram #writerscommunity #writingcommunity #poetrycommunity #instapoet #storytelling #stories #story

A post shared by Terribly Tiny Tales (@ttt_official) on

Whether you want to travel the world or learn something new, age needn't be a factor when it comes to choosing what you want to do. With Flipkart, we say that age is just a number, and you've all the right to #ChooseYourAge Visit https://terriblytinytales.typeform.com/to/FOskUN (Link in bio) to submit your tales on defining your age, not by the year you were born but by the adventures you’ve had, the experiences you’ve shared, the life that you have lived. Khadija Afinwala from Jeddah writes a #Collaboration < 140 > on #ChooseYourAge #terriblytinytales #ttt #microfiction #wordporn #words #wordgasm #writer #author #poet #poem #writing #amwriting #writersofinstagram #writersofig #poetsofinstagram #writerscommunity #writingcommunity #poetrycommunity #instapoet #storytelling #stories #story

A post shared by Terribly Tiny Tales (@ttt_official) on

1 CAB BOOKING OLD AT THE AGE OF 75 - Rabail Motihar As a child I sat at Dadi’s feet, listening to her regale me with stories from the days of her prime while I’d stare up at her in wonderment. She had lived to her fullest and not let the times dictate her actions. From solo trips to America in ‘63 to European tours in ’74, I had heard it all. My favorite anecdote was one where she had to stay in a hotel room in Norway with a bathroom smack in the middle of it, shower and all. I lived vicariously through her and often forgot my own life. To me, she was no less than a celebrity. When I was 14 she asked me if I had a boyfriend. And when I shook my head, scandalized, she scoffed at my speechlessness and told me not to waste my time and to live like I meant it. At 16 when my house help saw me hug a boy down the street, she ran to tell my grandmother who promptly laughed and told her, “Oh thank god she likes boys.” At 18 when I started going to a girl’s college she bemoaned my fate and patted me on the shoulder. At 21 when I left the city to go to college elsewhere, I wept more when saying bye to her than anyone else. I didn’t know how to survive a new city without the comfort of her stories at the end of a rough day. She was my first and only hero. As I grew older, she seemed to look the same; just more wrinkly and grey-haired, but with the same mischievous sparkle that she’d always had in her eyes. When I came back one October to surprise her, the strangest situation unfolded before us. The house was in chaos with the arrival of other relatives. In the mess that ensued, we ended up at the party venue in all our finery only to realize Dadi had been accidentally left behind in a similar fashion as Home Alone. Horrorstruck, as we made to rectify this error, a cab pulled up and out came Dadi with her brilliant smile and twinkling eyes. While we gaped in wonder, she simply waved her phone in our baffled faces. Designed and illustrated by Shameen Khatri (@shameenk) and Kshitij Jatale (@kshitijjatale) #terriblytinytales #ttt #microfiction #wordporn

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On Twitter as well, the brand went onto promote the campaign thought of not getting restricted by age barriers and going ahead with their choices by roping in celebrities like Boman Irani, Milind Soman reaching out to thousands of people through various platforms.

If we take a detour and observe Flipkart’s advertising pattern, it mostly revolves around occasional marketing including seasonal offerings, shopping festivals and  creating pre-buzz to it. While there have been campaigns like #PenguinDads that conversed with the new age Indian Daddys and the central theme - India Ka Fashion Capital.

Cut to #ChooseYourAge, Flipkart takes a break from it’s favourite ‘Kidults’ and talks about social growth. “Through our new set of brand campaigns, we want to champion the stories of “new India” - of Indians who are forward thinking and not limited by others' beliefs,” stated Shoumyan Biswas, Vice President, Marketing, Flipkart.

Flipkart’s Social Media Strategy

Digital media is an important platform for a tech company like Flipkart. “Social media enables us to reach a wider audience and allows for sharper targeting -  enabling us to create and customise messaging that is more relevant to our audience,” added Bhandari.

The company has already finished 2 Brand Love projects and over the course of the next few months, it plans to do 2 more campaigns to build on emotive connect with the audiences and champion their progressive vision.

While like, share and views can help a brand determine the reach of the campaign, the messaging needs to be acted upon.

Flipkart uses engagement as a lever to increase brand relevance that helps drive consideration. In a largely 2 player market - giving users emotional reasons to identify with the brand helps create a moat around the functional offers it has (selection & price). Social media engagement is one of the biggest building blocks for this moat.

 

"The ability to contextualize the Flipkart narrative across the multiple audience cohorts on social is one of the biggest drivers of it’s social growth. Leveraging the data prowess of social and the storytelling formats that the platforms support it has created narratives that echo with the Indian audiences," Bhandari added. 

From the #ChooseYourAge that talks to every urban Indian to the #PenguinDads campaign that talked to the new-age Indian Dad to the India Ka Fashion Capital campaign that took the aspiration of Bollywood fashion to non-metro India - Flipkart claims to have won at each customer cohort to drive social growth.

Also Read: Flipkart bags three Gold SAMMIEs at Best Social Media Brands

Over the next few months, Flipkart will continue to tell stories of this new, progressive India and celebrate the true spirit of how the brand is truly “naye India ke saath”.

Experts Speak:

Dhananjay Arora, Founder & CEO, Kwebmaker Digital Agency

The new #ChooseYourAge campaign of Flipkart is truly original and strikes a chord. I think its a perfect campaign that doesn’t really speak about the products the company ’sells’ but the theme that you are never too old to try something new. Its smart, clear and innovative and should appeal, specially to more older people who are not used to online shopping. A campaign with a heart that drives the brand (rather than the product) right into the hearts of its viewers. Well done!

Saurabh Kapoor, CEO, Hashtag Orange

Flipkart as a brand has always attempted to redefine the status quo in the Indian setup and this campaign has taken their initiative a step further. Indians do not shy away from change and this campaign by Flipkart is an attempt to monetise on this particular phenomenon. Age has been a socially accepted parameter for an individual's capabilities and there has been a lot of passive aggression against this sort of classification globally. It's interesting to see how Flipkart has built a campaign around this insight which is not only relevant to the target audience but also voices their hidden desires.

One can argue that this campaign has a dominant urban angle to it and would primarily appeal to the the masses in Tier 1 cities; but, at the same time, it has the potential to have a mass trickle-down effect in Tier 2 and below markets.
Interestingly, this campaign also highlights the change in Flipkart's messaging and is definitely a bold attempt to bring the audience of 45+ age group under their zone of influence. This group in itself accounts to roughly 25% of the total population and is practically an untapped category as far as new age internet based companies are concerned. - All in all, a good emotional attempt for market expansion.
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