Brands ride on Oscar winners: Cos join celebrations with memes, ads on ‘Naatu Naatu’ & ‘The Elephant Whisperers’

(This story originally appeared in on Mar 15, 2023)

Chennai | New Delhi: Whispers turned into a roar as brands joined in to celebrate India’s spectacular double win at the 95th Academy Awards, using them to drive engagement with consumers, especially on the internet.

Twitter and Instagram users may feel like ‘every brand everywhere all at once’ as brands from ecommerce firms Zomato, Swiggy, Dunzo and Meesho, to restaurant chain KFC, banks Kotak Mahindra and AU Bank, insurance firm HDFC Life, Reckitt Benckiser’s condom brand Durex, glucose drink Glucon-D, dairy maker Mother Dairy and P&G’s Tide detergent rolled out advertisements and memes to connect the Oscar winners with their brand messaging.

Kartiki Gonsalves and Guneet Monga’s ‘The Elephant Whisperers’ won the Oscar for best documentary short film while ‘Naatu Naatu’ from SS Rajamouli’s blockbuster RRR won it for best original song.

Paytm came out with an ad that said, ‘Say Na To UPI Failures with Paytm’ while detergent brand Tide in a meme declared that a win ‘can’t get cleaneRRR than this’. Condom brand Durex in an ad said: ‘WHISPERing to winning screams. Indeed, a gRRReat night’.

Boosting Consumer Engagement
Tanveer Khan, general manager, marketing and branding, at Dunzo, said this year’s Oscars ceremony was much more than a “moment marketing opportunity”. “At moments like these, it’s important to celebrate those who have made the country proud, without force-fitting your brand’s offerings,” he said.

The instant delivery firm created a 3D version of the hook step used in the choreography of ‘Naatu Naatu’ with its own mascot Harri, and released a congratulations post saying, ‘Don’t whisper, it’s time to blow the trumpet’ and showing a delivery employee celebrating the Oscar wins.

“For a brand like KFC, which is young and rooted in pop culture, topical moments such as these are a great way to engage with our fans on social media,” Aparna Bhawal, chief marketing officer of KFC India, told ET.

The restaurant chain in a post linked the three Rs in the movie title to its chicken dinner. “The post was a simple and creative way to catch the attention of both KFC and the film’s audiences,” Bhawal said.

Experts said brands use such topical ads to aid brand recall and boost consumer engagement and brand relevance.