Cashing in on Narcissus

The ‘selfie’ phenomenon is attracting and engaging youth as the mobile phone and social media combination allows for attractive self-projections. Brands too are riding the wave

MUMBAI: Cricketer Suresh Raina used it last week to display his ink-marked finger to encourage voting. Others followed, showing off their inked fingers on social media. Bollywood actors used it to showcase themselves in real life – Priyanka Chopra, Aalia Bhat, Shah Rukh Khan, Hritik Roshan and many others.

The fact that Google used it as a prank on April 1, offering it as a new Gmail feature – Gmail Shelfie – on the Gmail blog, indicates how much attention it has gained. “As the pioneering platform for selfies, Gmail is committed to being at the forefront of innovation in the selfie space,” said the message.

Besides using it to capture their own versions of ‘candid camera’ to put up on social media, India’s youth are also plugging into a number of brand contests riding on selfies.

“Two of the top three searched words in 2013 were ‘selfie’ and ‘hash tags’,” said Anurita Chopra, head, personal care, Philips India. Philips ran its #StyleTurf selfie contest for couples for its styling products, in partnership with MTV.

The ‘selfie’ phenomenon is already throwing up variants. “Actor Gul Panag posts ‘elfies’- selfies clicked in elevators. Among others, there are the ‘welfies’, clicked doing workouts; ‘belfies’ that focus on your bum; and no-makeup-selfies, popular with celebrities. Now, we’ve created the ‘Sulfie’ – the SUV selfie – our ongoing Mahindra SUV selfie contest,” said Vivek Nayer, CMO, auto division, Mahindra & Mahindra.

“The phenomenon of usergenerated content online – which earlier made up 1%, with the remaining 99% commenting on the content – is changing. Smartphones with cameras are giving the power of creative expression to every young person,” said Aditya Swamy, EVP and business head, MTV India. “The powers of the mobile phone and social media have come together,” added Nayer.

Youthful human behaviour today is all about projections — on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Instagram. “And what better word than ‘selfie’ to define it?” asked Ronita Mitra, SVP, Vodafone India. “During the upcoming domestic T20 cricket series, we have planned the Vodafone Fan Selfie contest where one gets an opportunity to enjoy moments of fame by appearing on the LED screens at the stadium.”

“Self-expression and exhibitionism are at their peak. Our most recent research at MTV shows that for youth, ‘how I project myself to the world outside’ is very important. Today, young people are constantly hungry to curate content, which defines their cool quotient. The selfie fits this well,” Swamy said.

“In the youth space, the selfie is a no-brainer. It’s there. It’s relevant. And it’s highly engaging,” said Viral Oza, marketing director, Nokia India. Nokia Asha’s ‘I love my selfie’ contest offered the chance to be on TV.

Santosh Desai, CEO, Future Brands, said that in the act of shooting yourself, you get to display yourself in your own way. “You have full control of it. It’s an act of representing yourself.”

Desai believes that the selfie is a fad but is powerful enough to evolve into something else. Swamy agreed, saying that technology will evolve it.