Marketing Management Voluntary Assignment

Rhea Pradhan
PGP/23/412

LET’S GO BANANAS!!
A video spread across the internet two days ago, shared by the Bollywood actor Rahul Bose, showing
of a tragically hilarious charge of Rs. 442.50 rupees for two basic bananas at JW Marriott.

https://www.livemint.com/news/india/rs-25-000-imposed-on-hotel-for-over-charging-actor-rahul-
bose-for-two-bananas-1564343857542.html

An abysmal event resulting in a fine of Rs. 25000 to JW Marriott, this video stirred the internet into
sharing such experiences of their own, i.e. their Rahul Bose moments”. However, what is more fun
to observe is the instant reactions of a myriad variety of brands on this instant. These other brands
cashed in on Marriott’s gaffe, and augmented up their own publicity.

https://www.indiatoday.in/trending-news/story/oyo-to-amazon-prime-rahul-bose-and-marriott-
start-brand-war-online-after-banana-viral-video-1575152-2019-07-30

These hilarious ads released caught Twitterati’s attention. I find it an approach similar to what Amul
does, which is to release a poster with every major event which happens in the country, which is
something adored and often even awaited for by people.

In this scenario, netizens have enjoyed these hilarious brand posts. In addition to this, I believe these
brands also attracted the Internet-savvy generation, like myself, who find it very amusing that
brands, especially older companies like Bikaji, Zee/&flix, and the Western Railways reacted so
quickly and spontaneously in the trending “meme” style. It connects with us and perfectly reaches
our souls, possibly increasing respect for the brand in our minds.

I believe this also extends these brands’ positioning, as ones aimed to a younger generation, the
budding and future consumers who would love and now await to earn enough to experience these
brands themselves, to, as we would say it, “check out how cool they really are.”

By actively involving themselves on viral trends on social media, I believe these brands have reached
out to the millennial generation or Gen Y. Identified as digital natives, who have used digital
technology, video games and the Internet almost since birth, this generation uses social media quite
a lot. They often broadcast themselves over social media, video sharing apps etc and connect well.
They may trust informal means of information like friends, recommendations etc over corporate
sources of information. This generation is also quite proactive about societal issues, environmentally
conscious and are more frugal in nature. Thus, they are labelled “hard sells “as they are turned off by
overt branding practices and are difficult to persuade. (Source: Marketing Management by Philip
Kotler and Kevin Lane Keller: Chapter 9 – Identifying Market Segments and Targets)

So, what happens when brands share memes and ads which relate to the current trends and news
on social media?

I believe this immediately catches the Hard buyers, i.e. the Millennial generation, among others as
well of course. As a Millennial myself, I was immediately amused by the reactions of these
companies and thought about how wonderfully they related with today’s meme format. I felt that
these were my age brands and I would definitely prefer them over others when I need something
from that category, because it feels like they “get me” (understand me as a generation).
Marketing Management Voluntary Assignment
Rhea Pradhan
PGP/23/412

To add to this, social media forms a cheap and easy resource for marketing and definitely keeps the
brands updated in real time with their consumers’ thoughts. Further, it’s a direct platform to
connect with your customers. Thinking more critically, being active on social media also increases
your brand recognition and awareness, as well and improves your search engine rankings.

Thus, to conclude, I believe social media marketing through active reactions to the trending news
should be the way to go forward. Companies who indulge in these practices would have a much
larger and stronger outreach into the marketplace and connect well with its consumers.