Using theft to promote anti-theft: Arctic Fox's marketing is as alarming as its backpack

Arctic Fox, one of India’s leading lifestyle brands for youth, launched the country’s first anti-theft backpack with an in-built alarm system with a launch campaign that can only be described as disruptive. The backpack’s alarm system prevents access to anyone but its owner. The brand partnered up with Saaho and decided to use the universe of the film to hijack attention and created a disruptive marketing campaign with the idea of anti-theft and anti-piracy at its core.

The brand created a feature-length film and put it out under the name 'Saaho Leaked' on all platforms where piracy is rampant. People looking to illegally watch the film would go on to platforms like KAT and Seedpeer and download a 900 MB file thinking they were downloading a pirated version of 'Saaho'. The fake torrent has been downloaded over 600 times so far and has fooled thousands of viewers across platforms!

The video starts off as a normal feature film, with a voice actor speaking in the voice of Prabhas, taking the audience through the story of a crime-ridden city. Two minutes in, the video changes into something else entirely. The screen suddenly flashes a bright red caution sign and the text 'You have been caught' underneath it, with a loud alarm blaring in the background. The film stumped the pirates on their home ground with a clear message to watch the film in theatres.

The creative agency behind this campaign and the flag bearers for Arctic Fox since its early days, Humour Me, wanted to rise above traditional forms of advertising and create a campaign, which is as bold and unique as the product.

Talking about this marketing heist, Prahaas Boppudi, Creative Associate, Humour Me, said, "Arctic Fox is a brand that believes in creative and disruptive work. To promote the new anti-theft backpack, we wanted to do something as innovative as the backpack itself. We decided to go beyond advertising for this one. We wanted an idea that integrates our partnership with the film and the idea of ‘anti-theft’ creatively. Recognizing that piracy is as much theft as burglary or pick-pocketing, we decided to stand by Saaho and protect our partner from it. We went right to the source of piracy and hijacked it."

Available to pre-book, the anti-theft backpack, which comes with a 'one-of-a-kind' alarm system, ensuring absolute safety, is priced at INR 2,499. Additional features of the anti-theft backpack include a charging port with USB access, drawstring waterproof cover, laptop compartment and more.

There are numerous interesting touchpoints for this innovative launch campaign - from being the official backpack of Saaho to influencers and brand ambassador Bhuvan Bam creating topical content to a product film. There’s a lot more to come!