Kapil Ohri
Digital

Simplymarry tells the marriage virus story

The Fire ‘n’ Ice microsite showcases a 2D animated viral video and invites users to share their views on marriage

Simplymarry.com, the matrimonial site of Times Business Solutions Ltd, has extended its print campaign, which was launched in December 2007, to a viral video and microsite, www.Fireandice.co.in. The print campaign positioned Simplymarry as a matrimonial site for youth living in metros, in search of partners with similar interests.

The microsite showcases the viral video and has sections like Share Your Story, which is a forum on which couples can express their views about marriage, and Find Your Partner, which opens into Simplymarry.com Apart from this, it also enables visitors to download the song which plays in the video.

Simplymarry tells the marriage virus story
Fire and Ice microsite
The video is a 2D animation film with background music. It is a visual expression of the ups and downs of the life of a couple living in a metro. The film begins with the meeting of the boy and the girl, which then evolves into a relationship with the girl getting morphed into a flower and the boy into a honey bee. The video moves on to the stage where one partner morphed into a dragon releases fire and the other partner throws water, showing how the couple manages conflict. Further on in the video, the partners morph into rat and cheese, a cooker and whistle, and frogs, all representing different phases of the marriage.

Rajat Gandhi, business head, Simplymarry.com, says, “With the Fire ‘n’ Ice campaign, we are trying to highlight marriage trends in metro cities where marriage is about the meeting of people with similar interests. Through the microsite, we want to portray the relationship between men and women and how they complement each other in various situations and have fun in their life. The microsite will help us to build a community of youth who believe in marrying people with similar interests.”

Mudra’s digital agency, Tribal DDB, has conceptualised the video and it has been developed by a Gurgaon based animation studio called Rocket Science. The background music has been created exclusively for the viral video by Roy Menezes, a Delhi based music composer. The song can also be used as a ringtone and will be offered for download via short code 58888

Bobby Pawar, national creative director, Mudra Advertising, says, “The brief from the agency was to create a viral video which will give people a glimpse into the modern marriage and how Simplymarry.com helps in it. The idea is to engage and let people talk about modern marriages.”

Gautam Singh, co-founder, Rocket Science, says, “It was a technically challenging project as each frame used in the video is drawn and coloured by hand. It being a 2D animation film, it took us around a month to finish the video.”

Simplymarry.com has more plans regarding the viral video. It plans to use it as an Internet ad by showcasing it on video platforms such as MSN Desktop TV across various sites.

“Based on the likeability and response of the users, we might use the viral video as a TVC in the future,” says Gandhi.

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