60 degree videos & Virtual Reality are a few of those formats that have been in the news for taking video to the next level. But apart from a few event based films, Indian brands haven’t used the format to its fullest potential. Until now. Flipkart and their digital partner, Dentsu Webchutney have come together to create what possibly is one of the first made-for-360 experiences to launch the marquee offers of Flipkart’s annual flagship sale- The Big Billion Days.
As the lead character in the film says, it’s a “game disguised as a 360 video”.
Taking from the campaign theme, ‘Ab ITNE mein ITNAAAA milega’ (cueing in value maximization, courtesy the sale’s grand offers) – the activity maximized the experience of the user by packing in a treasure hunt within the 360 video. Since Big Billion Day shoppers longingly wait for the offers to be unveiled every year, Flipkart decided to gamify this reveal. The 360 video shot within the Flipkart head-office, gives users a tour of the many conference and meeting rooms, the movie and music themed floors, the lobby arena and more. Across the locations, offers are hidden (on a poster on the movie floor, on the T-shirt of a busy employee passing by, etc.). Users have to spin their phones, spot these offers and screenshot them. The screenshots of these offers have to be shared back with Flipkart in exchange for grand prizes.
Shoumyan Biswas, Vice President – Marketing Flipkart says, “For us engaging with our users with a compelling story is as important as sales. We constantly like to push the frontiers – be it with our service, technology or consumer engagements”. The 360 video hunt capitalizes on the internet eyeballs grabbed by The Big Billion Hunt (India’s first Instagram tag-innovation) carried out last year. This year again, the medium has been optimized to the fullest to give users a novel experience within a known format.
P.G. Aditiya, Creative Director, Dentsu Webchutney says, “The more creative your idea, the more peculiar its problems. 360 as a technology hasn’t progressed too far yet, and we were experimenting with form which had little precedence- gamification within storytelling using 360. There were tons of roadblocks- but as it’s always the case, the output was worth it. For Indian digital creatives, it’s a pretty big step in the right direction- with the potential of interactive video using tech that social gives you.”
“The Big Billion Days has always been special for Dentsu Webchutney”, says Prashant Gopalakrishnan, Associate Vice-President, Dentsu Webchutney. “And checking out the best offers is the happiest moment for the user – because that’s when he realizes that the brands he has been longing all year long now fall straight in his budget. We wanted to make this moment as exciting for the user as we could”.