Indian coffee brand Bru promoted gender equality in marriages through a series of short-form OTT videos and the innovative use of a chatbot on WhatsApp.
Objective:
Bru is a legacy coffee brand in South India, which for over 15 years has owned the messaging of "Aanandham 'Bru'vudan Aarambam" ("Happiness starts with Bru," in English).
In South India, most people wake up to the smell of coffee brewing in their kitchens, and in most homes people's first choice is Bru. But, in the primary market of Tamil Nadu where Bru has thrived, there exists a grave problem. In a deeply patriarchal society of South India, women are always expected to walk in the shadow of their husbands. They carry the burden of household duties without being appreciated, supported, or seen as equals by their partners.
Unconsciously, most fast-moving consumer good brands in India reinforce gender disparities by portraying women as the obvious choice for household chores, forced to take on these responsibilities without a helping hand.
As the leading coffee brand in Tamil Nadu with over 90 percent market share, it was time for Bru to break these gender norms.
Bru's objective for its campaign was to retain brand salience among its core target of coffee drinkers by communicating the importance of equality in a marriage.
Target Audience:
In Tamil Nadu, coffee is the most consumed beverage, and for women between the ages of 24 and 40, who act as purchase decision-makers in middle class households, Bru is the first choice in nine out of 10 households.
Creative Strategy:
To support the cause of equal marriages, Bru took an active step to change its advertising by making its male protagonist brew a cup of coffee for his wife.
But Bru went still further and created the first-ever branded fictional Tamil micro series titled Aanandam Aarambam ("Happiness Begins!"). Through eight short brand films (released in non-skippable episodes), Bru explored moments in the life of a newly married couple, Ram and Ranjani. Each video was optimized to be less than three minutes in length.
To further engage the audience, Bru brought to life the protagonist Ram as a WhatsApp chatbot, who shared tips, tricks, and advice for husbands on how to share their feelings with their wives and set up the perfect coffee date.
Context:
While many brands today actively invest in web series, Bru felt that these brand integrations were not impact-driving, as they skewed toward long-form content, from which the audience could become distracted. The possibility of non-skippable micro series in the middle of on-demand and pre-recorded TV held more promise from Bru's perspective, as the content made the product central to the plot, increasing visibility for the brand.
Additionally, OTT offered the advantage of precise demographic and geographic targeting, and unlike traditional TV, it didn't carry the limitations of 30-second advertisements.
Overall Campaign Execution:
By partnering with India's largest OTT platform, Disney+ Hotstar (D+HS), Bru designed a mobile-first campaign, and channeled the capabilities of OTT video/audio and WhatsApp to evoke a warm love story between the characters of Ram and Ranjani. As a newly married couple who figure out the ups and downs of the first year of marriage, they bond through conversations over coffee.
Mobile Execution:
D+HS is the biggest streaming platform in India, with 95 percent of its 190 million monthly users watching content on smartphones. Just as significantly, the platform counts over 15 million women as daily users consuming on-demand TV.
In addition to leveraging D+HS, Bru brought the story of Ram and Ranjani to music-streaming apps. Owing to the success of the campaign, famous lyricist Kabilan Vairamuthu came on board to support the cause of supportive husbands, and a music video with lyrics written by him was created to capture the essence of the show, and was streamed on leading audio OTTs like Spotify, Gaana, and JioSaavn in Tamil Nadu.
Finally, and perhaps most innovatively, Bru created a WhatsApp chatbot, which engaged men and women differently.
Being the market leader in Tamil Nadu with over 90 percent market share, the goal for Bru was not to build brand awareness but to strengthen brand salience and spread awareness of Bru's values. Even though the legacy brand Bru had a stronghold in Tamil Nadu, challenger brand Levista was growing at an unprecedented rate. Hence it had become vital for Bru to maintain its top-of-mind status by relating to its target audience personally and by taking on a purpose they believed in, which was equality of gender roles.
Using the power of its micro-series on OTTs and chatbot capabilities, Bru's effort garnered significant traction in the Tamil market. More specifically, the campaign:
