BRANDS GO BATTING FOR VACCINATION
In a bid to create awareness and encourage the masses to get inoculated, brands are focusing on how the jab is cool. While 2020 was all about ‘stay home, stay safe’ and social distancing campaigns, in 2021 the focus is on Covid-19 vaccination, especially for the 18-44 age group. And brands are taking an innovative route, opting for social media campaigns to remove vaccine hesitancy.
From food and hospitality, automobile and apparel to consumer goods, brands such as OYO Rooms, Domino’s Pizza, Hero Motocorp, Durex and more have actively lent support to such campaigns.
Brand specialist Harish Bijoor calls it ‘moment marketing’. “Now the ‘moment’ is vaccination. There’s a craving and a shortage. Everybody understands when the entire nation is vaccinated, it is a safe nation. These campaigns also hint at subliminal promotion to show what the brand offers”.
Catchy and creative ads can go a long way in clearing vaccine hesitancy. Brand guru Jagdeep Kapoor says, “Ever since the vaccination drive kicked off for 18+, brands jumped on the bandwagon sending out the message that ‘vaccine is in’ as the younger generation follows trends.” He also points out that not many brands came up with digital campaigns when the vaccination started for 60+ or 45+ age groups. This, advertising veteran Ajay Gahlaut, highlights that “the 18-44 group is a sweet spot for most brands”. Compared to television, it’s easier to find the target audience on social media as, Gahlaut adds, “A television campaign is expensive, so brands go for the space where a bulk of audience will watch the ad.”
Ad film director Prahlad Kakkar believes the inspiration came from the US administration’s tie-up with Mcdonald’s for the We Can Do This campaign. He says, “There was a lot resistance to vaccine in America. It [the campaign] became very successful and brands thought if a fast-food chain can promote vaccines, why can’t we?” As ad filmmaker Sudip Bandyopadhyay observes, “It’s not only the responsibility of the government to spread awareness on these initiatives, but also of large organisations, advertising and production houses.”
Verma shared on Instagram that he’s been seeing Rawal “silently suffer for years” until she finally “decided to let out her cry for help and stand for herself and child”. Rawal and Mehra have a son, Kavish. Khatwani too wrote on Instagram: “Time to break the silence … time to wake up ..never judge a book by the cover as the saying goes... @missnisharawal we stand by you..”
Angad Hasija, friends with the couple for a decade, backs Mehra. “This was shocking, but I can’t believe that Karan would do something like this. I don’t know about his affair, but he can’t hurt anybody. I don’t think he would have hit her,” he says.
Some common friends of the couple, such as actors Kashmera Shah and Gaurav Chopraa,
refused to take sides. Both asserted that they are on the child’s side. Shah wrote on Instagram, “These are my friends. These are people I love very much. All three of them. So when one is hurt... I am sure the other is also hurting...” She added that she doesn’t know Mehra’s side at all. She refused to therefore bash him as “he is now and always will be Kavish’s dad, so I choose to remain neutral.”