Why is this work relevant for Brand Experience & Activation ?

Audible, Amazon’s spoken audio entertainment platform, was launching in India - a market saturated with entertainment across platforms, languages and genres. The launch strategy had to be impactful enough to cement Audible in the minds of the people and drive app downloads. We created an earned-centric idea based on the power of listening, brought to life with an integrated campaign that reignited India’s love for listening. Intrigue, supplemented by a brand-new experience of shock and delight, at a top-secret launch, got India talking and drove unexpectedly high app downloads.

Background

After a successful run of over 24 years in developed markets, Audible was entering a developing country, India, for the first time. Audible faced the risk of being tagged a late entrant in the market since competition, although niche, were already available and building loyal customers. On the other hand, mass audiences were largely unfamiliar with the concept of audio books and were increasingly immersing themselves in OTT platforms even as radio and television continued to play an important part in that consumption story. This formed the basis of the herculean task that Audible would have to power through. With this insight into India’s cluttered entertainment market, how could we, then break that clutter and create an impactful launch that would stay in the mind of the audiences? Our objective was two-fold, to spark the imagination of the audience and to cement Audible as the go-to platform for entertaining storytelling.

Describe the creative idea (20% of vote)

‘Listening is Seeing’ India is a country that loves good stories and hence, we wanted to focus on fueling imagination through the power of listening. Keeping this in mind, we chose India’s most popular crime author, Hussain Zaidi’s most intriguing work, ‘Mafia Queens of Mumbai,’ a captivating story that portrayed the lives of women of the underworld with Mumbai as a vivid backdrop. We chose three of Bollywood’s most powerful personalities who told powerful stories with their powerful voices to create a live storytelling experience.

Describe the strategy (20% of vote)

To showcase ‘Listening is Seeing,’ we created intrigue by sending unbranded invites in the form of physical audio surveillance kits. Voices of the celebrities invited people to the event while we filled their feeds with a creative poster art, a visual trailer, track with a rap artist and behind the scenes recording of the celebrities. The content assets were strategically released on their social media to position this as a cinematic production. On 13th November, 200 guests- celebrities, media and digital influencers experienced the first ever narration of the novel at India’s only surviving opera house, The Royal Opera House. The event focused on Audible’s offerings- an imagination fueled experience, the vast library and even the accessibility of using the app on-the-go. Experiential zones around the event in the form of cozy listening nooks and pods ensured audiences could sit back and relax while flipping through the extensive library.

Describe the execution (30% of vote)

To showcase ‘Listening is Seeing,’ we created intrigue by sending unbranded invites in the form of physical audio surveillance kits. Voices of the celebrities invited people to the event while we filled their feeds with a creative poster art, a visual trailer, track with a rap artist and behind the scenes recording of the celebrities. The content assets were strategically released on their social media to position this as a cinematic production. On 13th November, 200 guests- celebrities, media and digital influencers experienced the first ever narration of the novel at India’s only surviving opera house, The Royal Opera House. The event focused on Audible’s offerings- an imagination fueled experience, the vast library and even the accessibility of using the app on-the-go. Experiential zones around the event in the form of cozy listening nooks and pods ensured audiences could sit back and relax while flipping through the extensive library.

List the results (30% of vote)

- 350+ pieces of media coverage were achieved across print, online and social media for the launch of Audible - 280+ million in Reach across print, online and social - Top media outlets across entertainment, corporate and features carried the launch including Vogue, Mint, Business Standard, Economic Times, CNBC TV 18, Hindustan Times amongst others - Top headlines included, “Audible brings to life the power of listening" and “Making things so Audible” - 100% of the news articles had a positive tone and mentioned the brand name along with the audio book, Mafia Queens of Mumbai and the three celebrity narrators. These articles mentioned the launch of the audio book, Mafia Queens of Mumbai on Audible. Mafia Queens of Mumbai launched on Audible.in a as bestseller with a rating of 4.4/5 and rave reviews - An AVE of 31+ Million was garnered - A 100% Earned and a 100% Unpaid