Future group ridicules Flipkart, Amazon, Snapdeal with latest ad campaign?

Future Group CEO, Kishore Biyani was recently linked with purchasing online portals FabFurnish and possibly even Jabong, which made us think that the retail head honcho has had a major change of heart regarding ecommerce and the so called ‘retail discount disruptor’s’.

Fast forward exactly a fortnight and we are back to square one, as the Future Group’s ‘Brand Factory’ looks to have waged war against the big 3 online marketplaces, with its new promotional campaign.

Flip the Kart, Amaz-off, Snap the Deal

Brand Factory uses the phrases ‘Flip the Kart’, ‘Snap the Deal’ and ‘Amaz-Off’, which look like its describing Flipkart, Snapdeal and Amazon respectively. This could enrage the ecommerce biggies if they fail to see the funny side, causing further potential marketing warfare.

“The intent of a campaign is really crucial. Whether the campaign is offensive or not will depend on the intent of the brand. If the intent is shallow fun then it is different. But I personally believe that taking creative potshots at competition cannot be a long-term strategy, ” stated Prasoon Joshi, CEO, McCann India.

The Brand Factory themed promotional campaign is 3 pronged:

• 3 newspaper jacket ads will direct shoppers to the store

• Store employees will wear themed T-shirts, throughout the 40 stores

• The stores will be decorated with selfie zones to ensure the theme goes viral

“We just want to prove the point that both our merchandise assortment and pricing are better compared to online companies. We need to make consumers aware of this fact. While we use sales numbers to talk about performance, we are bigger than Myntra or Flipkart in terms of GMV,” remarked Biyani.