Anushree Bhattacharyya
Advertising

MakeMyTrip: Making a 100 per cent promise

The campaign is based on the results of a research which revealed that there is a lot of uncertainty amongst consumers when it comes to online booking of hotels. The TVC promotes the newly introduced proposition of 100 per cent money back on hotel bookings.

While the world moves towards a digitally advanced era, consumers in India are still uncertain about online booking of hotels. A research revealed that most consumers remain concerned about the gap between what is being promised and what is being delivered. The new campaign of travel solutions portal MakeMyTrip answers this dilemma of consumers through its new proposition of guaranteed 100 per cent money back on hotel bookings.

MakeMyTrip: Making a 100 per cent promise
MakeMyTrip: Making a 100 per cent promise
Conceptualised by Draftfcb Ulka,
shows an Indian visiting one of the Asia Pacific countries. The man, who wants to eat a chicken dish, runs from one market to another in search of a roadside hawker or a restaurant. He then meets a lady dressed like a chicken, standing in front of restaurant named 'Chi Can Restaurant' holding the menu card. Finally excited to find a restaurant that apparently makes chicken dishes, the man enters and orders a dish. After a happy meal, he congratulates the chef for the tasty chicken dish. To his shock, the chef replies that the dish was not chicken but dog's meat. The TVC ends with the message, 'Jo dikhega, wahi milega' and promotes the guaranteed 100 per cent money back offer on hotel bookings.

Talking to afaqs!, Manish Kalra, head, marketing, Makemytrip.com, says, "Through a consumer research, we found out that customers are not very sure at the time of booking a hotel online, what services will be offered eventually. In a majority of the cases, what is promised is eventually not delivered. Therefore, customers now mostly rely on the touch-and-feel factor in case of booking a hotel. Hence, in the new campaign, we have used a real life analogy to highlight the issue which is most common amongst people travelling to Asia Pacific regions. In our effort to resolve this issue, we have launched this offer of 100 per cent money back, wherein if the customer finds a discrepancy between the online claim and actual offer, we will return the money."

According to Kalra, the campaign aims to increase consumers' trust for online travel solutions brands, especially MakeMyTrip.

Sanjay Sharma, group creative director, Draftfcb Ulka, explains, "The television commercial has been kept fairly simple in order to address the main issue faced by consumers when they make online hotel reservations. Moreover, Makemytrip.com has launched this offer of 100 per cent money back, which is about being transparent in dealing with consumers. So the campaign deals with an important problem faced by the customer in the online space."

The TVC is currently on air on various channels.

Funny touch

MakeMyTrip: Making a 100 per cent promise
MakeMyTrip: Making a 100 per cent promise
Industry experts opine that while the TVC is funny and brings a smile to the face, in terms of execution, it lacks dynamism and could have been funnier.

Calling the TVC a funny one, Ferzad Variyava, executive creative director, Publicis Ambience, says, "The nice thing about the commercial was that they tried to bring the 'you never know if it's really chicken you're eating' travel warning or insight alive. Production-wise, the setting seemed to be eastern enough and the music played its part to cue in the oriental feel. Even the lady in the chicken suit costume seemed like a cute touch. The message seemed to come across fairly clear. However, the rolling, bouncing, slightly-high-on-sugar main character, on his curious quest for chicken in a country where he would be practically surrounded by them, threw me off at first. But in hindsight, an over-the-top approach didn't seem like a bad thing. Could it have been funnier? Probably. Overall, it felt pleasant and left a smile on the corner of my lips."

Bikram Bindra, senior account director, planning, BBDO India, calls the TVC a lighthearted fun piece of work that is sure to evoke a few chuckles. He adds, "The elements, in terms of execution, the setting, the music and the brilliant performance by the lead, is bang on. The brand promise of 'what you see is what you get' is not exceptionally unique and in fact forms the basis of the current Docomo campaign as well. However, what elevates the thought in this piece is the fact that it answers a specific consumer dilemma when it comes to booking lodging online. Most of us have suffered on this front and this has led to an inherent suspicion in booking stay before actually checking it out."

"The only weak link I found was that it takes a few viewings before it can be established that this is actually a TVC for hotel bookings, and not an overall brand film," remarks Bindra.

Have news to share? Write to us atnewsteam@afaqs.com