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When a new brand enters the market, it usually arrives with the standard playbook - a reveal film, a splash of outdoor, maybe a few influencer partnerships. But Seagram’s Xclamat!on Mixers did something entirely different. It stepped into the digital world with a simple, almost mischievous question: What happens when expression itself goes missing?
From the earliest planning stages of the launch, the team behind it knew that they wanted to do more than just introduce a product. They wanted to create a moment, and make people feel the brand philosophy before even hearing the first piece of communication.
That philosophy is rooted in expression. Xclamat!on is designed for a generation that communicates in bursts of emotion. It is built around the very idea of living in Xclamat!ons. So the brand decided to remove the one symbol that young people use every day to communicate energy: the exclamation mark.
To make this happen, Seagram’s Xclamat!on Mixers partnered with popular mobile keyboard app Bobble AI, with 75 million monthly active users, many of whom represent the brand’s core audience. On an ordinary morning, users unlocked their phones and typed their usual greetings. But “Good Morning” looked strangely lifeless, and “Hey” felt incomplete as users were unable to type the “!” punctuation mark on their mobile keypads. The missing punctuation mark became the centre of attention within hours.
Influencers like Kusha Kapila, Srishti Dixit, Tanmay Singh (Scout) and Mohak Narang posted hysterical reactions about being unable to express excitement. Memes popped up, theories surfaced and a collective curiosity spread. #AddXclamationToLife climbed to the number one trending spot on X.com India.
And then the brand revealed what was going on.
Two days later, the exclamation mark reappeared on keyboards across the Bobble AI ecosystem, and with it came the announcement of Seagram’s Xclamat!on Mixers launch. The symbol returned, along with the energy, the tone and the expressive flair that the activation had temporarily taken away. And in that moment, the audience understood the story behind the brand.
Debasree Dasgupta, CMO, Pernod Ricard India, shared the thinking behind the move. “Built into the brand name ‘Xclamat!on’ is the amped up energy that connects with its youthful target audience. The ‘!’ symbol is key to the brand and is expressed boldly right from its packaging to its communication. There’s a difference between saying just Hello and saying Hello! Adding the “!” makes all the difference. Taking Xclamat!on out of the equation makes you wonder what life without it would be like. What better way to get consumers to experience the essence of the brand? The consumer engagement is heartening, and our idea was to use creativity to unlock brand awareness and ultimately, business results.”
Inside the creative rooms at Ogilvy North, the direction was clear: bring the brand’s meaning to life by making the absence felt. Prakash Nair, President, Ogilvy North, explained, “While brainstorming, we asked ourselves: how do you make people feel the meaning of ‘Xclamat!on’? Simple, you take away their ‘!’ and suddenly every message feels flat. That tiny mark carries a world of emotion. Removing it became our fun, slightly mischievous way of showing the brand’s essence.”
The media team at WPP Media South Asia echoed the impact of the idea. Ajay Gupte, president, WPP Media South Asia, said, “In just a few days, this idea captured the internet’s imagination, trending on X.com and driving sustained participation from young audiences. It’s a powerful testament to how meaningful creativity and smart media choices can come together to deliver disproportionate impact. The campaign didn’t just build awareness for Seagram’s Xclamat!on Mixers; it created a cultural moment that introduced the brand with excitement and scale, ensuring that a large part of our audience now knows about it.”
From a technology standpoint, the activation was remarkable in its simplicity. A single symbol quietly vanished from millions of keyboards, and it sparked a nationwide conversation. Ankit Prasad, CEO of Bobble AI, said, “This collaboration is a truly unique use of technology to bring the brand’s story to life, and the engagement we’ve seen across Bobble AI ecosystem has been remarkable. This is one of the most creative and highly synergistic campaigns for us, and we are excited to have rolled this out together.”
On social media, the brand actively participated in the conversations it had sparked. Renee Mitra, Executive VP, Blink, highlighted the importance of this. “Tying in the role of the brand on this activation was the most important part. The brand handle actively played a role in owning the conversation. The youth are looking for conversations and that’s where marketing like this really works, rather than pushing content to them.”
The scale was significant, but the sentiment behind it mattered even more. The campaign did not just introduce a new mixer range. It invited young people to think about how they express themselves and positioned the brand at the centre of that expression.
With a launch that turned punctuation into a cultural talking point, Seagram’s Xclamat!on Mixers has made a confident entrance. The brand has opened its story with a moment that feels youthful, energetic and unmistakably expressive, setting the stage for everything that comes next.
Campaign Credits:
Client:Pernod Ricard India. Brand team – Debasree Dasgupta, Joydeep Basuroy, Tanvi Swami, Anandini Arora. Media & content team – Pierre De Greef, Shwetha Nair, Siddhartha Virkar, Bhavika Manchanda, Chandini Malla
Bobble AI: Ankit Prasad, Lovely Kukreja, Vikrant Awasthi, Kamal Matharoo, Anu Aswal, Mayur Agarwal
Creative Partner: Ogilvy India – Prakash Nair, Nitin Srivastava, Anuj Kala, Waebhav Yadav, Varun Shenoy, Tanya Khattar
Media and Content Partner: Wavemaker India – Ajay Gupte, Priyambada Choudhury, Aarti Bal, Abhishek Gupta, Navya Arora, Vaibhav Pankaj, Twameka Kumar, Sahejpreet Kohli, Priyanka Senapati
Social Media Partner:Blink Digital – Renee Mitra, Nicole Ferraz, Dia Kirpalani, Urvi Dalmia, Saadhak Malhotra, Yogesh Shirke, Anuj Rathod, Aishwarya Kadam
