#KFCProposal Attracts 19 Brands – Let’s Find out what happened & How did it benefit them?

I came across a news a few days back which made me really curious to know as to how it happened and thus began my research. I have curated all my research work and have prepared this content piece to make you understand how moment marketing works.

Social media has reached a stage where it’s no more just a social platform for expressing your views or interacting but a gold mine for brands to engage with their target audience basically at no price at all. It’s called moment marketing.

Before I dive deep into moment marketing, the trigger for moment marketing arises from something called as micro-moments.

So first let’s understand what is Micro-moments?

Micro–moments occur when people reflexively turn to a device – increasingly a smartphone – to act on a need to learn something, do something, discover something, watch something, or buy something. So most of the time you pick up a smartphone it can be one of the 4 triggers listed below.

Now that you have identified what is micro-moments, any micro-moment resulting in viral news gives birth to moment marketing.

By Definition, Moment marketing refers to creating relevant and consistent connections between offline and online media in real-time. The key to really “being there” when a customer reacts to a TV ad, sports event, or even a change in the weather is the ability to link offline media with search intent.

To explain it further I am stating a few examples of how Moment marketing works:

A few Days back Sonakshi Sinha took to twitter stating how Indigo broke the handle & wheels of her bag. A lot of passengers started posting their experience on the twitter trail and the news becomes a buzz for Brands to jump in. One of the best replies came from VIP Bags,

“Ouch! It ain’t fair what happened. we have sent the super stylish VIP Fairway bag to your office! Bon Voyage for your next trip! #HelloHoliday.” eventually delivering a new Vip bag to her. #VipMomentMarketing. Even other brands like Fevikwik jumps in to have a pie.

Another example – Do you recollect Rahul Bose complaining about paying 442 for Bananas at JW Marriot and took to twitter with a bill showcasing his anger. The government took note of it and took some serious action on JW Marriot. A lot of people started posting with a #MyRahulboseMoment about abnormal pricing at different hotels and eventually, hotels across India started reducing prices.

As soon as the news started getting tractions, a lot of brands jumped in to take a dig at JW Marriot to get eyeballs. That’s a subtle moment marketing.

Another Example – Remember Mrs. Patel from the Indian Cricket match. That moment when Virat met Mrs. Patel, Brands went gaga and Mrs. Patel became an overnight sensation. Brands like Amul & Pepsi jumped in to rope her in and created a perfect ‘moment marketing’ Moment.

I have saved the best example for the last. Recently in Africa, a guy proposed to a girl in KFC and someone named Anela took to twitter stating SA men are so broke that they can even propose at KFC. Then what happens was nothing short of magic. Watch the video below before you read further.

Post Anela took a dig at SA Men for being broke. KFC was the 1st to respond and other brands started pouring in. #KFCProposal started trending on twitter. As many as 19 Brands came forward to help ‘Bhut’ & ‘Nonhlanhla’. Below I have given a snapshot of how these 19 brands capitalize on an event like marriage. Brands identified 3 broad routes to find a common thread where their brand can fit in. 3 Broad routes were a. During Wedding Event, b. Post Wedding Event & c. Lifetime offer Event as shown in the snapshot below.

19 Brands came forward pouring unlimited benefits to this couple

The astonishing part is that 18 different brands from exclusive industries like travel, beverages, hotels, fashion, dental & so on participated in sponsoring for the wedding which is insane. Generally, news can absorb 1-2 brands as shown in previous examples but this news got 19 sponsors. Their wedding is practically free now. Like in movies ‘Bhut’ & ‘Nonhlanhla’ lived happily ever after.

You can see below all snapshots of the twitter feeds #KFCProposal

So now coming to one of the most important questions, what benefits are brands getting out of the moment marketing?

Moment marketing is thumb-stopping. In the age of digital where the attention span is getting shorter and shorter thumb stopper (news which can stop the audience from scrolling from a content) has become an important measurement of success. In this era where brands are fighting over the audience ‘mind-space‘, moment marketing can be one of the most cost-effective methods of reaching.

It helps to break the clutter but has to be aligned with your overall brand strategy to finally turn into a voice.

Moment marketing doesn’t work for serious brands like Pharma but light brands like maggie, Dabur and Amul. So if the audience is millennials, moment marketing can be one of the best mediums to reach out to them.

Brands should not think, its once-in-a-while kind of engagement, it has to be in a consistent manner. A brand will go unnoticed if it is a one-time activity.

In India, It is still not highly been treated as a marketing activity hence no budgets are kept aside for it but as soon as moment marketing happens all brands jump in without a budget hence the impact the brands want to create also fizzles out sooner than anticipated.

Moment marketing is highly active outside India. In India, it’s still at a very nascent stage. Only brands like Amul, Dabur play along very well. Rest all are like a shooting star.

That’s it from my side. let me know what your thoughts are on this article and if you want to know more about this topic or have any queries. I will be happy to answer.