Q] Could you please explain the significance of the #StoryHarGharKi campaign?
We turned full stack about 18 months ago. Essentially, this entailed our core services of search and discovery and being a marketplace. Additionally, we launched 15-plus services to help customers across their journey. The development was announced with a full-fledged campaign which was followed by many bespoke ones in emerging markets such as Lucknow, Indore, Jaipur, and Bhubaneswar that are showing rapid growth post-pandemic. This is happening due to rising employment opportunities and people aspiring for a better life – more space, better affordability and being at home. Most Indian MNCs like TCS and Infosys are present in almost 80% of emerging markets and foreign ones like IBM are present in about 60% of them. The idea was to bring a behavioural change in these markets that are, even today, largely offline and traditional in outlook.
At this juncture, we have realised that real estate is going through one of the major highs in the last decade in terms of heightened demand and rising prices fuelled by younger audiences and millennials accelerating their home-buying journeys. So, we launched this campaign that talks about simplifying the complex home buying and selling process as well as about our expert advisory services.
Q] What was your one-line brief to the agency? How did the insight and slice-of-life execution come about?
We are working through a very low attention economy and the clutter is only getting worse. Noticeability and comprehension are most important for us to convey our demonstrated leadership in connecting buyers and sellers seamlessly, as well as our expert advisory services in a manner that resonates with people. That got us asking ‘What is Story Har Ghar Ki?’ - the trials and tribulations that people go through when looking for homes. While in marketing we say that stories are remembered, it’s the characters that make them memorable. Hence, we tried to create a family and its characters in a way that the ads were both entertaining and informative.
Q] How did you amplify the campaign across mediums? Does the changing market dynamics that you just spoke about alter your media strategy in any way?
This was a robust campaign that ran in four different languages across mediums. We had a fairly decent presence on the ICC World Cup on Hotstar mobile and were heavy on TV, Print, and OTT. We used Digital as a supplemental device to reach those with high intent. There was also Radio and Social to further drive engagement. We were able to maintain 99% view rate and collect 64 million+ views on the campaign.
Coming to the second part of the question, our media plans are based on a thorough understanding of the touchpoints and the affinities of the customers, i.e., where do we find them and where are they spending most of their time? Our audience, which is typically 70% male and 30% female between the ages of 25- 45/50, has more affinity towards genres like news, business, finance, etc. So, we have a structured and scientific way of figuring out our pathway to them. Once that’s sorted, we look at the timeline and the kind of reach we aim for and thereby the frequency we want to build across mediums. The media mix is planned to incorporate core elements of TV and Print. There’s Digital adding views, Social for engagement, and Performance bringing in some high-intent customers. Radio contributes an element of surprise and is a longish tail to the campaigns. The overall idea is to not just send out messages, but to also ensure that they are being noticed and comprehended by the relevant audience.
Q] At this point in the brand’s journey, what are the long and short-term objectives against which you evaluate the success of your campaigns?
When you have a category doing well, it means that new users are coming in, while others are already there reusing it. Therefore, it is important for us to constantly keep building relationships and have conversations. That’s how brands are built. That’s where the greatest RoI lies. So, we’re trying to talk to new audiences and convey that while we’ve turned full stack, our core – buy, sell, rent, expert advisory - is at its peak, and our commitment to enabling and making the journey from search to finish is seamless and unwavering. That is the longer-term objective. In the shorter term, we are looking at creatives that do the job of breaking the clutter and getting the message across, thereby driving some near-term metrics like search and traffic. It’s a mix of brand and performance.
PROFILE
Devarshy R. Ganguly, currently the head of marketing at Magicbricks, has two decades of proven experience in marketing and brand management. Prior to Magicbricks, he was associated with reputed brands including Dr. Oetker India, M&M’s, Snickers, Galaxy, McDowell’s No.1, Teacher’s & Del Monte.
ABOUT THE BRAND
Magicbricks is a full stack service provider for all real estate needs, with an active base of over 15 lakh property listings and 15+ services including buy-sell-rent, home loans, packers and movers, legal assistance, property valuation, and expert advice.
FACTS
Media Agency: Madison (mainline) & Sokrati (Digital)
PR Agency: Dentsu Creative
Digital Agency: Havas
Creative Agency: RK Swamy
