Why is this work relevant for Media?

Indian wedding season of 2020 coincided with its strictest Covid19 lockdowns We made the impossible, possible, by taking the full experience of the Big Fat Indian Wedding online #WeddingsFromHome’s relevance and novelty made it a talking point covered by 147 news media stories in India and 10 other countries. The campaign was further amplified by local and international news media coverage, consumer stories and wedding posts from couples We turned India’s love for weddings into our media vehicle #WeddingsFromHome was a first of its kind branded property that helped you attend your loved ones’ special day, with all its flair.

Background

The wedding season according to the Hindu calendar coincided with the strictest lockdown period around March-April 2020. With strict lockdown imposed people were left with no choice but to postpone weddings. 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. 4. Increase engagement on Shaadi.com's social media platform.

Describe the creative idea / insights (30% of vote)

In the pandemic, 80% Indian couples chose to postpone their weddings (source : The KnotWorldWide survey, 2020) And Shaadi.com wanted to help these couples With the core purpose of bringing people together, Shaadi.com challenged the pandemic by doing the impossible... The big idea: Take the big fat Indian wedding online in the ‘new normal’ #WeddingsFromHome We launched #WeddingsFromHome on our social media accounts and created a dedicated wedding planner portal to help couples with their remote weddings. We put on our wedding planner hat to make #WeddingsFromHome a reality We planned bespoke #WeddingsFromHome for our couples – complete with priests, digital decorations, customised invites and online bridal grooming sessions. And we captured the stories of couples who used our platform in heartfelt videos Couples who used the platform shared their wedding videos with us and we turned them into emotional and uplifting videos to share on our social channels

Describe the strategy (20% of vote)

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 And we captured the love stories of couples who used our platform in heartfelt videos Couples who used the platform shared their wedding videos with us and we turned them into engaging, emotional and uplifting videos to share on our social channels We connected the couples to various media channels and invited media representatives to the online #WeddingsFromHome, even creating a memorable wedding video.

Describe the execution (20% of vote)

We kicked off our campaign by launching our wedding plan portal #WeddingsFromHome Social platforms helped spread the word among couples who’s wedding plans were affected by the lockdown 174 couples looking to get married online got in touch with us through Instagram DMs 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

List the results (30% of vote)

#WeddingsFromHome made headlines in India and 10 other countries As 147 stories across print, online platforms, TV , radio and social media covered #WeddingsFromHome in India, along with news media in 10 other countries National news stories about #WeddingsFromHome reached 468 Million and International outlets reached 14 Million overseas. As big names like BBC, Mint, Economic Times, CNN covered the campaign. The brand engagement for Shaadi.com grew by 300% on Facebook, the most popular social platform in India The high visibility of #WeddingsFromHome meant our core TG — couples looking to get married, started engaging with the brand again on social platforms, after a dip due to the Coid19 lockdown.

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