I am a subscriber to Miss Malini’s blog for my daily dose of what’s up in the world of Bollywood, fashion and lifestyle. One morning last month when I received my daily newsletter, I was surprised to see a leaked video post of Ranbir Kapoor in which the young actor is recreating Big B’s iconic ‘Saara zamana… haseeno ka deewana’ song from the movie Yarana. Ranbir was also dressed up like Amitabh in a suit adorned with light bulbs! Here’s the leaked video:
At first, I thought this was a publicity stunt for his upcoming release, but the blog enlightened me that it was for a television commercial for an LED lights brand. Now that was something unheard of before, and I looked forward to more.
Another leaked video soon followed a few days later in which Ranbir lashes out at a journo for leaking videos on YouTube. By now, the virtual space was abuzz with talks on Ranbir’s ‘saara zamana’ leaked videos doing the rounds on popular social networks. Twitter, the virtual townsquare, had everyone talking right from Miss Malini to the Bollywood site that had uploaded the leaked videos. A majority of netizens were convinced it was a publicity stunt for his new movie.
Leaked video! Ranbir Kapoor dancing to ‘Saara Zamaana’ on the sets of his new TV commercial: http://t.co/2PtFmTRVFv
— MissMalini (@MissMalini) October 11, 2013
OMG! After holiday pics now Ranbir’s video got leaked, watch it http://t.co/3f7z8hSKHc #Bollywood
— SantaBanta.com (@santa_banta) October 14, 2013
The hashtag #SaaraZamana started doing the rounds soon after, with a link to a microsite. Curious people from Twitter were driven to the microsite hoping they could find out more.
Fueled by the underlying curiosity about ‘Saara Zamana’ and the leaked videos, the microsite invited viewers to join the conversation through Twitter. Interestingly, the microsite featured a countdown to the big reveal, while a Twitter stream pulled up all the tweets made with the hashtag #SaaraZamana.
How many of you have seen ranbir kapoor #saarazamana coming soon tvc? Lot more to come..stay tuned!!!!
— Unitezz.com (@unitezzdotcom) October 19, 2013
#saarazamana waiting for the full music video to watch #ranbir in his suit of lights. Who has done the choreography? Any idea? Looking wow.
— Sanjeev Jasani (@sanjeevjasani) October 20, 2013
Curious to know what #SaaraZamana is all about
— bhatnaturally (@bhatnaturally) October 20, 2013
While the online buzz pointed out that #saarazamana was to do with Ranbir’s new TVC, the brand had not associated itself as yet.
A good 15 days later to the first leaked video, the said LED brand finally unveiled the video on its YouTube channel. Ranbir Kapoor, the new brand ambassador for Philips was promoting its LED Lighting, decked up in a suit full of LED lights. The stage is creatively lit with lights dancing along with the music. Interestingly, in the 2 minute music video, Philips has not interfered with any kind of branding except at the end, where it also adds ‘See what light can do’!
An innovative video launch
Conceived and executed by digital agency OgilvyOne, the digital arm of Ogilvy & Mather, the leaked videos concept has paved new ground in digital buzz creation. A shorter version of the music video made up for a television commercial for Philips LED, by which time the brand’s social presence also associated itself. The Facebook page shared many updates about the new brand ambassador along with a cover photo, while the Twitter handle carried forward the ‘#saarazamana’ conversations with Philips LED lighting solutions.
Things were done in the most believable manner possible. Both the leaked videos were uploaded by a site popular for its exclusive Bollywood entertainment, adding authenticity to the content and making it believable for a viewer. While the first leaked video has fetched more than 930K views till date, the second leaked video has managed to garner more than 305K views, summing up to a total of 1.2 million views combined.
The music video uploaded by Philips on the 23rd of October has fetched more than 906K views, while the TVC uploaded 4 days ago has been viewed more than 300 times. As per social media monitoring tool, Unmetric, the Philips India YouTube channel managed to gain 535 new subscribers in the period from October 23 to November 8, taking the total subscriber count to 700+. Also, the channel has had a higher growth rate (309.2%) than the average Consumer Electronics YouTube channel (3.3%). Here’s a graph depicting the steady upward growth of the music video since its upload:
Sharing teasers in the form of leaked videos while encouraging conversations with the help of a microsite has worked out well for an wider reach. The ‘leaked’ part played the trick in getting more eyeballs.
A subtle and clever way to branding led by viewer curiosity. The best part is that all online buzz was generated organically throughout the big reveal. Philips Lighting has nailed it with this concept of playing around with leaked videos prior to releasing the TVC. The brand has not only successfully managed to create buzz in the virtual world, but also carved a differentiation factor in the lighting industry space usually marked by dull and unmemorable commercials.
This innovative introduction could lend itself to a variety of engaging campaigns on social media. Probably a contest that gives away Ranbir’s LED light suit as the grand prize?!