Girls with the name Sonam Gupta all over the world must have been quite annoyed about being judged unfaithful as ‘Sonam Gupta Bewafa Hai’ turned into a trend amidst the chaos that followed the government’s decision to demonetise Rs 500 and Rs 1000 notes.
It all started in August, with the picture of a dirty, old ten rupee note that probably belonged to a jilted lover. It became an internet sensation for some time. People enjoyed posting jokes and memes on social media about it. Sonam Gupta re-appeared in mid-November when the whole country was facing a hard time trying to exchange Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes – a new Rs 2,000 note with the same message on it surfaced on the Internet and went viral.
While a bunch of talented folks jump into the game and created some hilarious memes, some local and small business picked up Sonam Gupta trend and created some truly engaging marketing campaigns.
Viral Marketing Campaigns Inspired by Sonam Gupta:
Let’s look at some of the marketing campaigns inspired by Sonam Gupta Viral:
1. The Beer Café
India’s largest beer chain – Beer Café – decided to use the opportunity as a fresh idea for bringing in more patrons and offered free beer to everyone named Sonam Gupta if they present a valid ID. They started a campaign on November 16 on their official Facebook page and got 2.1K likes.
There are two sides to every story and we would like to hear Sonam Gupta’s, over a cold beer. Calling all Sonam Guptas out there to head over to The Beer Café, present your ID and enjoy your free beer. Well, whatever you did, you deserve to chill.
#SonamGuptaBewafaaHai #LoveForBeer #sonamgupta
2. Keventers
Largest milkshake chain Keventers also used this opportunity to increase their fan following. A free milkshake to every girl named Sonam Gupta on presenting her ID at any Keventers outlet.
Sohrab Sitaram, CEO and Director of Keventers said, “Sonam Gupta, or any girl, deserves a sweet break from all the attention from the nation. We decided that if Sonam Gupta could go viral, riding on the wave of demonetisation, then we could give Sonam Gupta a sweet surprise by offering her a free classic milkshake from Keventers.”
3. The Chatter House
Delhi-based restaurant offers a meal voucher worth Rs. 1,000/- to all Sonam Guptas. In their campaign on Facebook official page they mentioned a special drink dedicated to Sonam Gupta.
We are giving meal vouchers worth Rs. 1,000/- to Sonam Gupta till 15th Dec 2016. Any girl named Sonam Gupta can come to us and avail her voucher on showing her valid photo ID. This offer is available at both the outlets Khan Market and Nehru Place.
4. Rent It BAE
Rent it BAE – A Delhi based online rental shopping site used this opportunity and announce an attractive offer not only for Sonam Guptas but for all Sonams and All Guptas. Wow! What a strategy to increase business reach and engagement. Take a look at their Facebook Campaign –
Keep calm, because it pays to be “Sonam Gupta”!
Oh! Our dear BAE, getting so much criticism for having the most famous name, “Sonam Gupta”, your savior is here! Get yourselves avenged!! Now tell the world with your style and smile, that you’re not “bewafa” 😉 You’re just too hard to be handled by anyone 😉 Put some glaze to your wear with RENT IT BAE! BECAUSE WE SUPPORT THE SONAM GUPTA CAMPAIGN! 😉
Exciting discounts await for all “Sonam Guptas” out there
Terms and Conditions:
1. This offer is valid from 17th November’16 till 30th November’16
2. If you wish to avail this offer, download our app, post your mail id in the comments section below and you will receive coupon code from our side.
5. Crownit App
Crownit is one of the best cashback app which gives exciting deals on restaurants, movies & shopping vouchers etc. Using Sonam Gupta trending, Crownit started a campaign and offered extra 10% cashback for Facebook profile name “Sonam” & extra 20% cashback for profile name “Sonam Gupta”. In their Facebook page campaign they used famous characters from CID series.
Daya, zara ye pata karo, who is Sonam Gupta? Suna ye Crownit wale ‘Sonam Gupta’ ko buhat cashback de rahe hain 😀
Folks, If you have a friend called ‘Sonam’, tag them and show them that you care 🙂
6. Raasta HKV
While many famous food chains launched marketing campaigns based on Sonam Gupta Viral, Delhi’s favorite Caribbean lounge – Raasta situated at Hauz Khas Village also started a campaign using this viral content.
There is a 10% discount and free dessert for every girl named Sonam Gupta on presenting a valid ID at Raasta -Hauz Khas Village.
#SonamGupta Why not enjoys your fame? Check in at Raasta to avail the #offer!
7. Chull
10% off for you #SonamGupta! We at #Chull believe you!
Gurgaon-based Bar and Restaurant also started a campaign using Sonam Gupta Viral. With Gupta as his second name, Shubham Gupta, owner of Chull, feels sympathetic towards all Sonam Guptas who are the subject of all these jokes. They decided to offer 10% off on the food bill to any Sonam Gupta who walks into restaurant with valid ID proof. They extended their offer for all ladies whose first name is ‘Sonam’ or last name is ‘Gupta’.
Result Achieved:
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Organic Reach & Engagement:
These café earned a good number of organic reach and engagement using Sonam Gupta trend. When everyone was talking about this viral and making joke on it, these café created attractive marketing campaigns. As soon as people saw these campaigns on Facebook, they started tagging all girls whose name resembled to ‘Sonam Gupta’. People also start sharing post on their page and started conversations with their friends. Many people visited their official page to confirm the news and also like the page to get more updates. This way these café and businesses earned more customers, fans, post likes, page likes and promoted their business.
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Brand Awareness:
The Beer Café, Keventers, The Chatter House and Raasta they all are very famous and old food chains & situated in posh areas of Delhi like Hauz Khas, Khan Market, Cannaught Place and Nehru Place. These businesses do not need any introduction but if we talk about Rent It BAE and Crownit App, they are new in the market and need brand awareness camapaigns to reach more people and let people know about their business. Using Sonam Gupta trend, these businesses attain the brand awarenesss objective. Rent It BAE chose to increase its fan-base by widening the target audience who can avail their offer. Interestingly, their offer was not limited to the girls who name is Sonam Gupta but they also included all girls with ‘Sonam’ as their first name an ‘Gupta’ as their last name. In this way, they got more tags, post likes, page likes and created more traffic to their website.
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App installs:
Crownit App and Rent It BAE asked people to install their app if they wanted to avail the offer. To attain this objective, their offer was targted to wider audience so that more and more people install their app. A good strategy which not boosted their sale but also helped them to attain ‘App Installs’ objective.
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Sale:
These campaigns definitely boosted the sale for these businesses. Usually, people don’t go alone in big restaurants and if someone gets attractiev discount or food voucher, they want to be accompanied with friends and family. The Chatter House offered a free coucher of Rs. 1,000/- and kept the offer valid for a month. People who earned this voucher liked to use this in celebrating any big event like birthday or anniversary. A good discount on food bill or free desert or a drink at famous and big restaurant surely convinced the people to visit at least once especially when this is more like a fun activity.
Learning:
- Keeping in mind that jokes or memes on social media fizzle out as quickly as they go viral, so if you are planning to use any viral content in your campaign, do it as soon as possible.
- Campaigns based on memes/viral trends runs for a very short period of time.
- The idea behind running a campaign for your business is – you want people talking about it. Since memes/trends already saturate the Web, latching on to such viral content can be a great way to get your brand noticed online.
- Viral Marketing is the best way to engage young and active audience.
- Every major social network from Facebook to Pinterest supports image and video files, so using viral trends increases the chances that your content will be shared across many platforms and channels.
