Wakefit spills the beans on its viral IKEA Bengaluru launch ad

Home and sleep solutions brand Wakefit recently launched its first original web series, titled ‘Ghar Set Hai’, on its YouTube channel called ‘Home Time’. Very few Indian start-ups release their own web series. The web series is Wakefit’s attempt to prioritise its own content over third-party content providers.

However, it is not the first time that the brand has experimented with long-format content. “In the past, we launched successful campaigns in this genre of content. It is not the first time that we are delving into the space,” Prateek Malpani, head of brand, Wakefit, tells afaqs!.

There is the ‘Meet the Kumbhkaran’ campaign or the four-and-a-half-minute ad featuring actor Sumeet Vyas going on a tirade against work from office. The success of these campaign is what led to the inception of ‘Home Time’ and now ‘Ghar Set Hai’, reveals Malpani.

Featuring actors Aasif Khan and Anjali Barot in leading roles, Ghar Set Hai presents a family comedy drama showcasing a next door middle class family where small things bring great joy.

On why the brand chose to release its web series on YouTube, Malpani shares, “The objective was to connect with the audiences at a conversational level. The brand didn’t want the content to be behind a paywall. It is an attempt to become a part of the conversations beyond the products and services that we provide.”

Wakefit’s recent ad in ‘The Times of India’ that welcomed its global competitor IKEA to the city of Bengaluru, made rounds on social media. Bengaluru citizens were surprised to see the ad which was written entirely in Swedish. The QR code at the bottom of the ad, with the caption, ‘Not from Sweden? Don’t know Swedish?’, led to its English translation

The ad talked about aspects of the city, like it is well known for its good weather, craft beer, tasty food and terrible traffic. It even took a dig at IKEA’s Bengaluru location (Nagasandra) and mentions that Wakefit’s stores aren’t located on the outskirts of the city. There is also a cheeky reminder about Bengaluru’s traffic being terrible.

At that time, there was huge interest around the Swedish home furnishings brand (IKEA), as it was opening its third outlet in India - in Bengaluru. Sharing how Wakefit’s team came up with the ad, Malpani mentions, “We knew that IKEA was going to create a lot of intent around buying furniture with its marketing spends. It had plastered the entire city (Bengaluru) with hoardings. It was known that there is going to be interest around IKEA’s launch and we thought why not become a part of that conversation.”

The brief was simple. Wakefit wanted to welcome IKEA, as it was launching its store in Bengaluru and didn’t wish to do anything negative, but something that came across as ‘pure’. This campaign was actually an after-thought - that it should be carried in print.

Malpani adds, “As far as the print ad going viral, that should not be any ad’s end objective. The goal of any ad should be to either to showcase brand ethics or boost the business. As a result of this ad, we saw high footfalls in the Wakefit stores in Bengaluru, a jump in our direct traffic and organic searches from the city and other places as well.”

As a result of such interesting campaigns, Wakefit is the most searched mattress brand on Google. The number 2 and 3 brands are far behind, informs Malpani.

Elaborating on the brand’s overall media mix, Malpani states that 65 per cent of its ad spends go towards TV. A large chunk also goes towards digital and influencer marketing, with the brand messaging being consistent across all these channels.

“Traditional mediums, like print, OOH, radio and cinema, don’t feature in our media mix, but there are talks to further leverage these mediums as well,” adds Malpani.

While there is a large audience set who buy everything else online, most Indian consumers may not be comfortable buying mattress and furniture online because of its touch and feel nature. As per Malpani, “The task for the brand is to establish a trusted and a convenient option for people to buy online. That is where Wakefit’s entire value proposition is right now."

Working on this consumer insight, the brand launched an initiative which lets the consumers try the product for 100 nights. If they don’t like the product after the trial, they can return it and get a refund without any questions being asked.

Malpani believes that sleeping on a mattress at an offline store for 10 minutes will never let a consumer know whether it is right for them or not. Hence, the brand redefined the consumer experience by giving the consumers a 100-night trial.

“We know that once a consumer has found the right fit for their requirements, they don’t like returning.”

Working towards an omni-channel distribution approach, the brand has, over the last 4-5 months, opened about 10 retail stores in cities like Lucknow, Delhi, Bengaluru and Chennai. While the offline expansion is still at a very nascent stage, Malpani says that they have seen positive numbers, in terms of profitability, footfalls and the month-on-month growth.

Other than its direct D2C rivals, Wakefit also competes with the unorganised segment and popular retail players that enjoy deep distribution across the country.

Malpani shares that the entire competitive landscape is a bit complicated as many players operate in this category. “There are online furniture and mattress players, then there is the offline mattress segment, mom and pop stores and also a global competitor like IKEA.”

While the competition is intense, Wakefit doesn’t like obsessing over it. Malpani says that none of Wakefit’s competitors have so far cracked the online furniture space. Wakefit’s focus is to simply provide affordable premium quality home solutions to its consumers.