Why did Pepperfry turn Saifeena into memes for its latest campaign to promote offline stores?

Furniture e-commerce platform Pepperfry's new campaign has turned the company's brand ambassadors Kareena Kapoor Khan and Saif Ali Khan into memes.

The memes first appeared on outdoor hoardings followed by a digital ad campaign which addressed the meme treatment of the Bollywood actors. These hoardings came up across the country in 100 cities where the brand has an offline presence.

The campaign was conceptualised by Lowe Lintas. "The purpose of the hoardings was to attract the attention of consumers and direct them to a nearby location where our studio is present. Further, the content on every hoarding is connected to the next and gives an overall message about our offerings," says Naveen Murali, head, marketing, Pepperfry. The meme hoardings mention the location of the nearest Pepperfry store.

Sarvesh Raikar, Regional Creative Officer, Lowe Lintas – Mumbai, tells us how the creative agency married the concept of memes with outdoor hoardings. He says, "To be honest, outdoor was always going to be the dominant media. Our aim, therefore, was to be highly disruptive in the OOH space.  But since ‘meme’ is a format that spans from static to gifs to videos - it naturally lent itself to different media. Today the world is talking in memes. From TikTok to WhatsApp to YouTube they are popular across media."

Murali adds that the idea of creating a memeverse further drives the shock value that they wanted to generate in order to draw eyeballs. Once the memes piqued the interest of consumers the brand launched the digital ad film.

"People have seen memes on their mobile screens. They've not seen memes on outdoor hoardings. So with that, we decided to move forth and create a meme universe with Saif Ali Khan and Kareena Kapoor Khan. We use both of them in a meme universe where they interact, and interplay with each other across multiple hoardings. It's like a series of hoardings, where when you see one you would want to see the next and then the next," Murali adds.

Raikar adds that although the brand wanted to have a lot of fun with the theme, they did end up exercising caution to ensure that they don’t go overboard while communicating the omnichannel USP. "In fact, since the campaign has gone on air the unanimous feedback has been – what are the other memes in the series? Also, with outdoor you have to be extremely conscious of the number of words you use. But in this case, the memes are actually making people stop and decipher the whole message," he adds.

In the brand film, Kareena and Saif are seen taking a break on a film set, when their concerned manager shows them images of themselves, used as memes on Pepperfry hoardings across the country. The two superstars are barely offended and this further frustrates the manager.

Kareena and Saif explain that their memes are apt because Pepperfry brings the ‘wow’ factor with their 1 lakh + offerings and 200+ walk-in studios. Through the film, Pepperfry aims to address customers' concerns arising from a mismatch in expectations i.e., either the lack of options in offline stores or zero touch-see-feel experience on online sites.  

"Consumers today like to have many choices and prefer a touch-and-feel experience before making a perfect furniture purchase. Riding on the back of the brand’s largest omnichannel presence in the country, Kareena and Saif feature in a light-hearted, comic film epitomising Pepperfry’s vast range of unique offerings through their banter. This year’s campaign film will introduce a ‘MemeVerse’ concept to drive consumer proposition through a clutter-breaking format," the brand said in a release.

After six years of launching its offline stores the brand is now focussing its efforts to promote its on ground presence. Murali explains that Indian consumers still prefer an offiline experience when it comes to furniture. A majority still prefer to buy their furniture offline, getting a better feel for its design rather than online. Hence, the campaign detailing the offline push becomes more important for the brand. 

"What Pepperfry offers is what the consumer of today seeks in their furniture shopping experience - the true omnichannel shopping experience. It offers the convenience of online shopping with endless choices and the possibility to experience the ones they wish to see up close at the walk-in studios. Through this campaign, we wanted to make sure Pepperfry continues to transform the way Indians shop for furniture and build their dream homes," he says.

The ad film focuses on creating awareness about Pepperfry’s large network of walk-in studios across 100+ cities and the widest range of offerings. "This campaign aims to further strengthen our position as the one-stop destination for all the things home," Murali shares.