Background

The 2020 wedding season in India coincided with the Covid19 pandemic at its worst The wedding season according to the Hindu calendar coincided with the strictest lockdown period around March-April 2020. And postponing a wedding is not just inconvenient, but also considered a bad omen Wedding dates are usually decided upon careful reading of the stars and religious calendars by priests. Missing an auspicious date might mean waiting several months for another. So how could Shaadi.com, India’s leading matchmaking portal help couples get married in the pandemic? To solve this problem, we needed to reimagine the big fat Indian wedding in the new normal, while delivering on: 1. Shaadi.com's brand purpose of bringing people together. 2. A boost in social media followers & conversations about Shaadi.com. 3. Garnering earned media coverage across print, online and TV.

Describe the strategy

The target audience for #WeddingsFromHome was young, tech savvy couples unable to get married because of Covid19 lockdowns. We created a dedicated portal to help couples plan their remote weddings, complete with invites, decorations and music. We also launched #WeddingsFromHome on our social media accounts – Instagram, Facebook, Twitter to get the conversation started. We wanted to get people excited about what we had in store from them – A wonderful wedding experience even in the middle of a pandemic The novelty and relevance of the campaign in the pandemic made #WeddingsFromHome a ‘must carry’ story for news media 147 news stories in India and several more from 10 countries around the world covered #WeddingsFromHome While covid19 lockdowns around the world were at their worst, #WeddingsFromHome became an uplifting conversation everyone wanted to engage with

Describe the execution

The concept of #WeddingFromHome made headlines as soon as the portal launched. Being the first and only of its kind, it generated earned media in unprecedented volumes. All leading Indian news channels covered the campaign like it was breaking news! Well known digital media platforms such a Brut went on to make statements like: “Great Indian Wedding 1- Pandemic 0” So just when people were starting to lose hopes about weddings in the extended lockdowns of 2020, our campaign came forward as a solution! The campaign ran for 8 weeks and we attracted organic press coverage worth over US$150,000 of ad value, with global media for Shaadi.com surpassing US$140m.

List the results

Before #WeddingsFromHome, an online wedding was an unimaginable idea for India Delivering on its core purpose of bringing people together, Shaadi.com’s #WeddingsFromHome was an unprecedented initiative. We embraced technology with cultural sensitivity, and a deep understanding of our consumers’ needs and aspirations. As the brand was exposed to aspiring couples and all of their wedding guests through #WeddingsFromHome, we reached millions in the perfect context of a wedding! The campaign reached a national audience of 486 million, and an international audience of 14 million. The novelty and 'Indianness' of organising a remote wedding got everyone talking about #WeddingsFromHome. #WeddingsFromHome made headlines across popular media outlets in India and 10 other countries! Shaadi.com received #WeddingsfromHome enquiries from 174 couples in just a four-week period. And we attracted organic press coverage worth over US$150,000 of ad value, with global media for Shaadi.com surpassing US$140m.

Please tell us how disruption in your market place inspired the work

Disruption caused due by Covid19 lockdowns meant the category saw a dip in engagement As people were restricted to their homes, engagement on Matchmaking apps and websites dipped. While some players in the category tried to innovate by adding video chatting features, we decided to go one step further Shaadi.com delivered on its promise of bringing people together by offering a remote wedding planning service #WeddingsFromHome The platform created a player and market where there was none. Taking the unorganised wedding market by the horns and invented a new platform altogether that created a new category, industry and market. #WeddingsFromHome made sure couples could experience their wedding just like the traditional, grand Indian wedding — even during the lockdown