How to make friends and win over people in the Digital Age

The world wide web, the internet or the big blue, no matter what you choose to call it; the ‘www’ can be a tricky place to navigate. If you are not careful, you maybe land-up in a dark alleyway and before you know it you are mingling with the wrong crowd. The situation can be tricky to get out of. So, as a product, how do you make sure that you are reaching the right (read relevant) people and not ending-up being “that annoying product I keep seeing on all my news feeds?”. The key is to understand who is it that you are speaking to. This is where Digital Marketing Analytics comes into play. Not to be confused with Web Analytics, Google Analytics is a tool that measures the effectiveness of your marketing campaigns across different platforms at each stage i.e. from acquisition to closing. As is evident, there are two ways in which you can get an insight into the minds of your consumers:

1. Web Analytics: This type of data gives information about criteria such as page load speed, pageviews per visit, and time on site etc.
2. Google (Digital) Analytics: This type of data can give you more holistic and all-around information about the nature, habits, demographics, and many other behavioral aspects about the audience that visit your website.

It is imperative that we understand that, it is finally humans and not machines that are buying your product or visiting your website. Humans are made of more than just numbers. They are made of routines, surprises, habits, rituals, flesh, skin, blood, and bones.

Once you can build-up the persona of your intended consumer in your mind, it becomes easier to tailor your communication to suit them. It is also important to note that we are all creatures of habit; if we have bought something at a certain time in our past, we are very likely to make the same purchase again during the same time. In the rapidly changing world of today, we often hide small stories behind huge numbers, data, and graphs. As social media marketers, it is our job to demystify these stories and help create newer ones for our audience. One of the simplest ways to understand the complex world of digital marketing is to draw everyday parallels and place them in a context that we can all understand.

Reading Google Analytics is very much like getting to know your favorite person:

Think about your best friend, think really hard. Won’t it be weird if you didn’t know what languages they can speak or which places they like to hang out at?

Well, Google Analytics works much the same way. Learning to make sense out of Google Analytics will slowly and surely bring you to a realization that you are gaining an insight into, what your end-audience looks like.
Targeting is like hanging out in the right circles:

Google AdWords, keywords and some other tools enable you to target your ads to a very specific audience, as does Facebook. You can not only select the demographics, but also the likes and dislikes of your audience based on their interests. For eg: If you are advertising for a musical concert and you are getting more leads from Viman Nagar (Pune), and you can independently verify that the majority population of the region is in the age group of 18-27; you can safely say that your end-audience is a student between the age group of 18-27 with music listening habits that are close to the artist you are advertising. Linking this data further with other social or real-time observations about their habits and mannerisms can help you build a character profile of your user. Once you know who it is that you are talking about, it becomes much easier to tailor your communication as the need may be. To illustrate this point further, let’s assume that you are the owner of a steel manufacturing unit, and you are getting more traffic out of the above-said region; it is safe to say that you perhaps need to re-orient your marketing efforts because this group is unlikely to make a purchase of a product like steel. The right targeting is thus like choosing your friends well – it helps you to be noticed in the right circles and ensures that you stay relevant.

 

Derive your strategies from personal experience:

Think of it this way, before becoming a social media marketer, a digital enthusiast or a business-owner; you are a human being. That means you also use the internet and that means that you too are the target of some marketing campaign or the other. Now, ask yourself this question: When was the last time that you felt like making a purchase or take any action for that matter after you saw something on the internet? For me, this happened as I wanted to choose some makeup products to go with my wedding dress. I clicked on the link of a Facebook Ad that eventually led me to a cosmetics website. I bought a lip tint, a blusher, and an applicator sponge. Thereafter, I was continually receiving prompts from the same site about make-up products that would complete my D-Day Kit such as primer, an eyeliner, and a mascara. In this particular case, relevance and timing was key. What was it in your case?

Chances are that what prompted your action was one of the following factors:

A. You were being continually bombarded with the message without you being conspicuous or irritated by it.

1. The content (written or audio-visual) caught your eye with its creativity or precision.
2. You have made similar purchases before.

 

Keep the above principles in mind and you are GOLDEN! Thus, the Mantra is: Know who your core audience is, know what channels they frequently visit, and know what kind of messaging gets an action out of them. This is precisely the data that analytics can provide you with. Once you start thinking as a prospective customer, tailoring your content becomes easy.

 

Learn basic social skills:

“On the internet, as in real life – manners are important. Once you get to know people it is easy to understand and fathom how they like to be spoken to.” 

The same is true with your audience. To elucidate the point further, let’s assume that you are with a girl you like. Once you start meeting her often, you start getting to know what phrases she uses, what places she frequents, what are the kind of friends she hangs out with, and what place she belongs to. This is exactly how you get to know your audience. It is also important to note that this does not amount to stalking! All the information shared by Google is volunteered by the audience themselves.

However, it is also important that you do not approach them constantly and become an annoyance. Try to keep your interactions limited to the websites they visit frequently, using the information shared by the web browser i.e. Cookies. Approaching your audience after they have left the site is called re-targeting. If you manage to recapture their interest, they are more than likely to make a transaction. It is a useful tool, but remember that it works better as a part of a larger digital strategy rather than a sole endeavor.

“Strategies involving content marketing, AdWords, and targeted display are great for driving traffic, but they don’t help with conversion optimization. Conversely, retargeting can help increase conversions, but it can’t drive people to your site. Your best chance of success is using one or more tools to drive traffic and retargeting to get the most out of that traffic. (Source: https://retargeter.com/what-is-retargeting-and-how-does-it-work)”

 

Conclusion:

 

One of the best ways to make sense of digital marketing is to understand that you always need to put a face and build a profile of the person that you are talking to.

 

Once you have done that, you can go about building a personality too! It will take time and quite a few dead alleys to get to the right audience, but once you do the effort is definitely worth it. One of the greatest misconceptions about digital marketing is that – Through your messaging, you are talking to everybody. The golden rule of thumb is to keep it in your head that if you are talking to everyone, you are reaching no-one. On the other hand, when you are talking to one person alone and that person has the exact same attributes as you would want your ideal audience to have, your efforts are far more likely to yield results and ROI. And finally, simple manners and class truly go a long way. Keep these qualities constant in your messaging, and you are sure to hit the right note!

A glimpse into the HQ of the Social-Networking powerhouse- Facebook

Recently, I was at Oculus Connect 2017 in San Jose. During my stay, I got an opportunity to visit the Facebook Campus in Menlo Park, California. It was one most exciting experiences. The energy and open culture I experienced was highly infectious. The way Facebook has built a warm and engaging workplace for its employees is a great example of how an organisation can get the best out of its resources.

From an analog wall that allows an individual to calculate Facebook’s popular parameters of audience reach to the wood workshop where you can make your own wooden toys that promotes the idea of nurturing a hobby, everything is well-thought and fascinating. The ‘no cabins’ culture is something that’ll definitely be a trendsetter.

I’m happy to share some of my memorable moments from this trip.

Instagram’s gorgeous new office

Instagram’s new office looks like its App.  It has been designed by a Hollywood set designer. The three modular set is perfectly illuminated for mobile photography.

 

Impressive, 9-acre rooftop garden on Facebook Menlo Park, California HQ that overlooks the city’s marshlands.

 

Wood Studio to explore Hobbies on Facebook campus. 

The slogans placed around the campus give a revealing look at this atmosphere of change and innovation, “Fortune Favors the Bold”, “Move Fast, Break Things”, and “Hack Often”.

Facebook Analog wall that shows potential reach just as Facebook Adverts.

 

– Rugwed Deshpande  (Director of Setu Advertising)

Personifying a golden legacy across generations

Brand:
A brand that is almost synonymous with being a Punekar – P.N. Gadgil is a name that stands for blind trust and purity in gold jewellery. A brand with a legacy of more than 185 years, PNG 1832 is led by Abhay Gadgil. While PNG 1832 takes forward all the core values of the pioneer brand, it also adds a contemporary twist to tradition. The location of the store – at Nal Stop – gave an edge to the brand and its promise.

Challenge:
The brand PNG 1832 was to be unveiled to the people of Pune with its first store at Nal Stop. The primary challenge was to find that one crucial differentiator while staying true to the original legacy. The prosperous city of Pune is home to many jewellery brands that have a loyal customer base. Thus, the brand PNG 1832 had to be set apart from this clutter without alienating it from the pre-existing legacy of P.N. Gadgil Jewellers in Pune.

Strategy:
At Setu, we decided to package the longstanding legacy of the pioneer brand with an emotional hook. With the understanding that the brand has connected with families across generations, we came up with the concept of ‘Family Jewellers’. The core idea behind this thought was that the brand always took care of the customer’s interests honestly, above anything else.

Teaser Campaign

Teaser Campaign

The launch of the PNG 1832 store at Nal Stop was a grand success. The store was launched during the auspicious days of Navratri and thus, could align itself to the upcoming festive season in the most optimum way. The look and feel of the store set itself apart from the other jewellery outlets. However, the brand communication ensured that its legacy stayed intact.

 

 

 

 

Results:
PNG 1832, while deriving its legacy from the pioneer brand, successfully carved a niche for itself in the hearts of Punekars. A fact that was evident from the astounding footfalls that it gathered during the festive season of Diwali as well as Dussehra.

 

 

The art of naming it right!

They say what’s in a name. Well, the answer lies in the fact that so many brand names have become verbs! We Xerox but we don’t photocopy. We Google but we don’t Bing. How has Velcro ‘fastened’ and ‘looped’ itself so easily as a brand into the minds of consumers across ages? Well, the story is interesting. And that’s why we say, a lot’s in a name. When many brands compete in the consumer’s mind space, his mind becomes a battleground of names. Whichever he remembers the most, wins.

When I was a kid, I used to love dogs. I remember calling all of them Fluffy. Then, when we moved into a new house, our neighbor had a huge dog with very large, brooding eyes.  He used to bark continuously, and whenever I would go near him, he would growl at me. Soon, the definition of a ‘dog’ changed from fluffy to fear. Well, it’s quite true, and science tells us that as humans, we cultivate positive or negative connotations to words, based on how we feel. And this plays a huge role in how we perceive words and things around us.  We keep evolving and so does the way in which we relate with certain words.

As our vocabulary grows, our mind is no longer a blank slate it used to be when we were younger.  Research says, an average English-speaking adult’s vocabulary is around 30,000 words, or even more! Slowly, the connotations we associate with them also become pretty solid as we grow older. That’s why it is a challenge for brands to get into a consumer’s mind-space, and moreover, to be remembered. Then how or why do certain brands become successful? Let’s explore!

“The dictionary of our mind is filled with words that have negative or positive emotions tied to them. The challenge for a brand name is to create its own mind-space. Stay there. And evoke positive emotions.”

Names strike an emotional chord

Imagine a brand to be a nice, exotic curry.  A lot goes into its making. After all the water evaporates, the thick, delicious essence that’s left behind is what leaves an unforgettable after-taste. It is this essence that makes you want to remember the brand. It evokes a certain positive feeling within you. The mere mention of it, and that is – the name.  With the name, a brand becomes a person, a living, breathing entity that evokes either positive or negative emotions in us.  There is a story behind everything we savour or detest. A good illustration would be the brand name Victoria’s Secret.  The name instantly strikes a mysterious, sophisticated note, making it much more likely to remember. Thus, making it the most spoken about brand after its first store was launched in 2012 in America. The sales went up to $6.12 billion, and today it is the largest American retailer of women’s lingerie.

“With the name, a brand becomes a person, a living, breathing entity that evokes either positive or negative emotions in us.”
Often, it’s just love-at-first-sound!

A brand name is a capsule that is filled with emotional and intellectual content. It carries the unique meaning of your product and its story with itself wherever it is used. Let’s look at the name Google. Today it is hard to imagine a life without this name. If we are stuck with anything, all we say is ‘Google it’. Not only is it a brand name that became a verb for searching online, it also became synonymous to a solution provider! In an era when search engines had already become popular (Yahoo!), Google made a mark with its odd, but easily pronounceable name. A twist on the word googol, Google made something techie sound really ‘familiar’ and ‘lively’.

“A name carries with itself the personality of its brand, what sounds nice registers better, and that is why the consumer falls in love with it at first sound, remembering it over a competitor’s product!”

 

The global linguistics challenge

With a unique name that is easy to spell and fun to say, comes the next challenge. And that’s being sure it doesn’t have any negative connotations in another language. If the brand is being launched on a global platform, consulting native speakers becomes important. Ensuring the brand name isn’t associated with any slang and other negative cultural perceptions, prevents embarrassing situations later! In 1971, when the Ford Pinto was launched, the translation of the word ‘Pinto’ in other languages was ignored. It turned out ‘Pinto’ was a slang term in Portuguese for male genitals. With the tagline “The little carefree car” Ford tried to cover-up for the name-blunder, but due to some technical vehicle defects, the car stayed synonymous to its unfortunate translation!

Two familiar words, one original name!

The birth of an original brand name is often achieved by putting two simple words together. And it has worked wonders for brands!  What better example, than Post-it. Today, the challenge is not just having a space in the consumer’s mind, or having an excellent recall value. It goes much beyond that. Many brand names are already trademarked and have registered domains. Making compound words is thus, a great idea to overcome this challenge. Another excellent example is PhotoShop, as it communicates the purpose of the product very effectively. Two familiar words put together to create a meaningful, harmonious effect.

“Often we see so much creativity and inspiration with quirky brand names all around us. All we need is the creative eye for it. The inspiration to create something different and original by giving simple words a twist”

 

 

 

Just verb it!

“When people use your brand name as a verb, it’s remarkable.”

Meg Whitman,
CEO, Hewlett Packard Enterprise

We don’t YouTube, but we do Skype. Names that suggest application, are easily used as verbs. Over a period of time, Skype has achieved this glory. It has transformed into a verb today, but the name had the ability to be used as a verb. It was so synonymous to the activity, that it became the activity itself! This is called ‘verbifying’, but it can be dangerous too, as the brand becomes popular but suffers from ‘genericide,’ meaning losing the legal power of a trademark! Well, it certainly does become a part of people’s daily lives, which is remarkable.

Putting the pieces together

Serious or quirky, distinctive or funny, brand names that work the most are imaginative and evoke positive emotions in the consumer’s mind. Today is the era of coining words; take for instance Gatorade, Doritos, Tostitos, and many more.  So do names always need to mean something? Well, not necessarily as the name will soon become synonymous to your business. It may not exist in the dictionary, but it can make an unforgettable mark in the consumer’s-dictionary.

 

What’s important is that the naming approach must be in tune with the graphical representation of the name. That way we achieve two things – the emotional perspective of a brand name is in perfect rhythm with its visual identity, and it looks good in writing! Recently I visited a unique place in Kothrud, Pune, called Yolkshire. Apart from the interesting name, this outlet serves all types of egg dishes. So apt! The name and visual interpretation are in perfect sync with the quirky ideology of the brand’s offering.

“Getting as imaginative as you can be with the name is key. The name may not exist in the dictionary, but it can make an unforgettable mark in the consumer’s dictionary.”

 

After the brand has acquired its own personality, it will truly appeal to the masses. And maybe then, we can say that the brand has won the battle for space in the consumer’s mind, because now he/she is interacting with a person and not a company, just like the King of Advertising said it!

“The public is more interested in personalities than in corporations”
– David Ogilvy

 

Devangini Karkhanis, an MBA in advertising, embarked on a journey to become a copywriter 6 years ago.  With a vision to put her passion for words and mind full of ideas to good use, she believes her work has taught her a lot over the years. Working in the creative field has been an enjoyable and enriching experience, and it has given her the opportunity to go beyond writing, and become a good communicator, strategist, and an artist too!

Devangini is an English Copywriter at Setu Advertising.

Connecting North East India With the World

In recent years, film festivals have become a commonplace. In fact, almost all the major cities in India, have their own film festival. This, in addition, to India’s official film festival – International Film Festival of India (IFFI). And yet, the north-east region of India hasn’t got a platform that justifiably showcases its talent and culture.

National Film Archive of India (NFAI), Pune, decided to conduct a North East Film Festival (NEFF) in Pune, from 28-30 January 2017. An initiative by the Information and Broadcasting Ministry, the idea was to showcase the films made in the north-east, along with the culture of the region. The obvious challenge was to make it stand out in the crowd of numerous film festivals.

We decided to take up this challenge to create awareness that would increase the footfalls at NEFF and enhance audience engagement by generating content that could be shared on social media. Keeping North East as the central theme, we formulated a social media strategy that would incorporate elements of North East in every aspect of our communication.

We arranged for on-site activities like video and photo booths with chroma screen that transported visitors to the beautiful lands of North East. Set-up for the very first time at NEFF, hundreds of visitors enthusiastically clicked pictures, shot videos and shared them on their social media profiles.

A team from Setu Digital was present at the venue to generate content. The responsibility involved interacting and coordinating with the I&B ministry, the PR team, NFAI team, the audiences, and the artists, performers and participants at NEFF. Amongst the hustle and bustle of the events, moments and stories were captured skillfully that were shared on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube and Google+. An off-site team was dedicated to developing content which educated the netizens with interesting information and facts about the North East.

 

 

The numbers were impressive, to say the least. All the online presence was organic in nature. On Facebook, the NEFF page gained 50,823 impressions, with more than 700 engagements. On Twitter, around 74k+ impressions and 2000+ engagements created sufficient buzz for NEFF.

While the team gained valuable experience of handling online presence of on-site events, the successful promotion of the 1^st edition of NEFF, gave Setu Digital another success story.

The twist on ‘Taak Mein Twist’!

BRAND

Kutwal’s journey as a brand began in 2003, in Shirur near Pune. Since then it has been a reliable name engaged in the manufacturing of milk, milk by-products, and beverages. Along with this ever-evolving manufacturing plant, Kutwal Foods is equipped with a dedicated team of 100+ skilled professionals who are inept at operating the latest technology. The brand aims to consistently deliver quality in the field of milk and milk products. They are the very first of brands to have launched buttermilk in three interesting flavours.

CHALLENGE

Being the first to have come up with three different flavours of ‘Taak’ – Masala, Pudina, and Ginger – Kutwal Foods wanted to reach out to the corners of Pune with their new product range. With strong and established competitors already in the ‘Taak’ segment, connecting to masses with three refreshing flavour choices was the challenge.

STRATEGY

Since the three differentiating flavours for Kutwal’s buttermilk were the icing on the cake, considering quality already a given with Kutwal, we came up with a positioning line stating the same – ‘Taak Mein Twist’. The idea was to connect to all kinds of age groups, old and young, and convey the fact that consumers have more choices now in the buttermilk segment too!

The strategy was to launch these three flavours of buttermilk in the scorching summer so that every consumer feels like trying one to quench his thirst. We created posters using a 3D illustration of the flavoured buttermilk bottles with elements from the ingredients coming alive. The splash of buttermilk against the cool blue background and real-looking droplets on the bottles were the perfect attention-grabbers for anyone who was tempted for a healthy, cooling drink on the go. We also created a vibrant packaging for the buttermilk bottles. Through the packaging, we distinguished every flavour using a different colour and displayed ingredients that specifically went into making it.

RESULTS

Our strategic brand communication highlighted the brand’s innovation on flavours.  The positioning line ‘Taak Mein Twist’ along with the interesting and vibrant 3D design got the product noticed and tasted! The communication language will be remembered and helped differentiate the brand from its other me-too competitors.  Kutwal’s Taak earned an impressionable identity of its own and a 22% rise in sales was marked.

 

SETU Digital Creates Buzz To Launch #Adda At Kothrud

 

 

#Adda – a popular hangout place in Pimple-Saudagar launched its second branch in Kothurd and SETU Digital made sure it received the welcome it deserved by using social media at its best.

Kothrud is a mellow place of hard-core Punekars and they are known for their authenticity. However, the same area consists of a huge amount of youngsters and college kids who travel to other parts of the city whenever they wish to celebrate life in ‘their’ way. These people spent more time traveling and less time partying. Most of them wished to have an uber-cool hangout place closer to their home.

Well, we knew something they didn’t. #Adda, a beloved hangout place of Pimple-Saudagar decided to open it’s another branch in Kothrud on the occasion of their first anniversary. We thought we would deliver this news of absolute delight in a creative & funky way. We packed this surprise in the form of a teaser based on GIF format.

The target group of this launch was youngsters who are all about the new media and thus we decided to launch #Adda completely on digital media with no support from the mainline mediums. This helped us reach the right audience who spend most of their time on social media networks.

This new page hosted quirky GIFs that highlighted the new Katta of Kothrud which is a local term for the hangout. Also, the communion of Adda’s anniversary was delivered by posts that said – ‘We are turning two on our first Birthday!’ With a boost on Facebook, these posts were targeted at the young and happening crowd of Kothrud. The posts generated average engagement of 500 actions per post.

The news caught the eye of all the youngsters and within a week Adda Kothrud was housefull with the love it received.

Setu delights the Right Target Audience of a Luxurious Real Estate Project through a Different Medium!

Pride Purple Group chose 15 extraordinary achievers from their Park Titanium Project and celebrated their success as a brand activity.

Park Titanium is a Super Luxurious project by the renowned Pride Purple Group which offers luxury abodes in the ultra-premium segment. The group decided to celebrate this establishment with a grand gesture that will create a unique identity for this flagship project. Setu proposed to establish this project as a ‘Home for Achievers’ by celebrating and acknowledging the accomplishments of the residents. What other way to announce a success story better than a Magazine with an Awards Function?

“Club Titanium” the Achievers Magazine.

We advised publishing an exclusive Club Titanium Magazine that was to be an in-house publication of Pride Purple Group. The idea was unique and thus, began the formation of Club Titanium – an exclusive community that consists of individuals who belong to a notch above ordinary.  Using the project name created an instant connect with the property. 15 such stories of young achievers between the age group of the late thirties & early forties were curated from the residents of Park Titanium. We appointed a content agency to curate all the information along with the journey of these young achievers. We packaged interesting stories that highlighted the key elements that made every achiever unique. Our team of designers accessorized this content with a plush magazine cover that emitted luxury and sophistication at every glance. The inner pages were a perfect amalgam of pictures and stories that were not only informing but inspiring for anyone on the journey towards success.

“Club Titanium” Achievers Awards
This plush magazine and its success stories deserved a grand celebration. Thus, we suggested a launch of the magazine along with a felicitation ceremony for the entrepreneurs. This event was hosted on 2nd April 2017 at the prestigious Conrad Hotel in Pune. Our achievers were felicitated in the presence of their family and friends who also witnessed the grand launch of the magazine.

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Reaching out to the outer world

Mainline : This magazine was circulated with the iconic fashion magazine Femina which reached to over 30,000 households in Pune city. The concept was translated into hoardings that that launched Titanium+ as homes for achievers. Advertorial in one of the leading publications of Pune was published.

Digital : Post event amplification on social media was made possible with video bytes of the achievers from the award event. A blog post containing all the videos and PDF collateral of the magazine were promoted on social media platforms.

Nation Celebrates #IndiaPickleDay on 4th March

On 4^th March 2016 internet broke down in laughter with pickle related memes and GIFs which made this day officially the #IndiaPickleDay. It was trending nationally for 2 hours and reached over 17,11,394 people on twitter alone.  The widespread generated online PR that reached out to more than 90,000 people.
And guess who started it? – #SetuDigital.

Remember the time when the only reason you could finish the tindey ki sabzi because you had pickle by the side? Pickle has rescued us from all our non-favorite veggies (that’s a long list for most of us) since our childhood. It came to our attention that this ultimate tastemaker has not received the admiration it deserves. Thus, we took an initiative by asking people to celebrate 4th March as India Pickle Day.

To celebrate India’s tastemakers we collaborated with India’s leading pickle brand – Pravin Pickles, who are known for their tasty recipes for last 60 years. We started in the year of 2016 and created a property online. India Pickle Day was welcomed by all in its first edition but the second edition of 2017 truly made it a national phenomenon.

To reach out and connect with people we needed to create relatable content thus, we started generating content based on humour and nostalgia. We created several posts using the meme format and converted some of the iconic video clips, such as ZooZoos, into pickle stories. Apart from this, a few informative posts were also made to create awareness about the pickle day. All this content was floated via influencers and social media handles of setuites. The content was quickly picked by netizens and started spreading like a wildfire.

Engaging Video content was created for Virality

Memes created for #IndiaPickleDay

We also filed a petition to officially declare 4th March as India Pickle Day and called out various brands like Pravin Pickles, Mother’s Recipe, Nilon’s etc. Pravin Pickles approved the petition and made our initiative official.

India Pickle Day is a celebration of tradition and authentic Indian taste which we aim to make even bigger in the coming years.

8 Days NFAI Event Covered Live on Social media By #SetuDigital

National Film Archive of India (NFAI) participated in the International Film Festival of India (IFFI), Goa 2016 and Setu Digital’s taskforce covered all of it live on social media using their superpowers of multitasking at their best. Innovative VR films appreciated by many dignitaries who visited the booth was the highlight of this event.

The International Film Festival of India, Goa 2016 was inaugurated on the 20th of November with the presence of several esteemed dignitaries like the Chief Minister of Goa, Laxmikant Parsekar, Minister of Information & Broadcasting, Venkaiah Naidu and the renowned Indian director Ramesh Sippy as the Chief Guest for the evening. This 8 days long event was covered by Setu Digital task force to highlight the participation of the NFAI – National Films Archive of India.

Setu Digital Team at NFAI

Setu Digital Team at NFAI

Setu Digital Team at NFAI

Setu Digital Team at NFAI

 

Use of Virtual Reality to generate Rich Content
NFAI participates in IFFI every year with an exclusive theme through which they showcase the history of Indian Cinema. In the year 2016, they chose ‘Aazadi 70 Saal’ as the theme and we suggested an innovative way to present it. We crafted two Virtual Reality (VR) films with the association of Digital Art VRe that presented the infrastructure of NFAI, Pune and the other one was a virtual exhibition of the original film posters. At the stall on the location, there was a live exhibition of posters that depicted the theme along with an array of merchandises.

Snapshot of the Virtual Exhibition of the Original Posters from the NFAI Archive

 

Cinemagraphs to generate more engagement on Social Media
Setu Digital team commenced their work way before the event. A hype was created for the event on social media using innovative Cinemagraphs of original posters of movies such as Shahid, Rang De Basanti, Hindustan Ki Kasam etc.

 

Social Media Contests
To initiate engagement, ‘Cinema First’ Contest was hosted on the NFAI page.   The contest consisted of 10 Indian Cinema related question and winners were presented with BookMyShow vouchers. After this buzz on social media, the next step was to cover the real time aura of the festival.

 

Facebook Live straight from IFFI ! 
The task force started right from the opening ceremony with a live streaming on FB Live. The NFAI booth was inaugurated by Minister Venkaiah Naidu and he viewed the VR videos. He also launched the NFAI calendar for the year 2017. All his activities were captured and posted on social media in real time by our digital squad. Few other dignitaries like Ajay Mittal too visited the booth. This was just the beginning; in the coming 8 days, the team split their ways to cover the occurring of all the venues from screenings to talk shows.

Live Video Editing and Posting on Social Media
The event was graced with the presence of many dignitaries from Bollywood and most of them visited the NFAI booth. Celebrities like Om Puri, Nana Patekar, Mahesh Manjarekar, Raima Sen viewed the VR films and appreciated the innovation. All these moments were captured and the video bytes were posted on social media with sophisticated packaging within no time using live video editing. The booths were busy with visitors at all times and the VR films generated great curiosity amongst the audience.

Live Twitter Q & A session
The event was bustling with various on-ground activities and our team was there to capture the most of it at all times. Mr. Prakash Makdum, Director of NFAI honoured a chair at the Talkathon – a live Twitter Q&A session, with renowned filmmaker Nagesh Kukunoor and two others. In this session they answered live questions from Twitter and our team streamed it on the NFAI page.

Dubsmash Video Content

The on-ground activities also consisted of Dubsmash videos by the audiences on the pre-selected dialogues in line with the theme Aazadi 70 Saal. We also hosted a Dubsmash contest that generated overwhelming response on social media.  Our team worked at the speed of light to give live update tweets on the activities of the event. This event gave us an opportunity to double check our strengths and we were glad to deliver more that we speculated.

#SetuDigital task force on the field