Why is this work relevant for PR?

When Covid19 lockdowns were at their worst, Indian couples were forced to postpone or even cancel their weddings That’s when Shaadi.com, India’s leading matchmaking service, stepped in… We made the impossible, possible, by taking the Big Fat Indian Wedding online And it wasn’t just a video call. The novelty and relevance of #WeddingsFromHome under lockdowns made it 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

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 (20% of vote)

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. Through Instagram posts we redefined WFH as “Weddings From Home” and not “Work From Home”. And the made the process for #WddingsFromHome as simple as - “DM us your details” and the rest we’ll take care of! We captured the love stories of couples who used our platform in heartfelt videos These videos helped other young couples see how even in difficult circumstances, their fairy tales can come alive with Shaadi.com We promised our consumers a truly special, personalised wedding experience And delivered on it through customised wedding invitations, wedding-themed Zoom backgrounds. We also connected priests, make-up professionals, musicians, and even henna artists to the platform.

Describe the PR strategy (30% 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 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 PR execution (20% of vote)

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 (30% of vote)

Overall 147 stories across media platforms were written about #WeddingsFromHome. And within the first few weeks of the campaign running, we received over 170 enquiries about #WFH. Through organic press coverage, we reached a national audience of 486 million, and an international audience of 14 million. Brand engagement on Facebook grew by 300% after the launch of the platform. And almost every online media publication was talking about the campaign in detail. #WeddingsFromHome positioned Shaadi.com as an industry leader

Please tell us about the social behaviour that inspired the work

Weddings in India are not just about the rituals, they’re a carnival for all to celebrate marked with various religious and cultural ceremonies. The scale, grandeur and importance of the mahurat (a carefully selected auspicious date) are what make an Indian wedding unique. In 2020, the pandemic was forcing couples to reluctantly postpone their weddings, which is considered a bad omen in Indian culture And a video call cannot match the grandeur of the Indian wedding that couples dream of We solved this problem by taking everything that makes an Indian wedding special online We made the impossible, possible by offering priests’ services, decorators, customised invites, festive zoom backgrounds and makeup and grooming services for the couple and their families through the #WeddingsFromHome portal. By rooting our disruptive innovation in the cultural insight around the weddings in India, we reimagined the Big Fat Indian Wedding in the new normal