Tasfia Tasnim Revu
For the last few days, Facebook has been bombarded with millions of people sharing 30-second clips of two girls saying a catchy phrase over and over again which is very much eerie and somewhat similar to Stanely Kubrick’s portrayal of the Grady twins in the Shining. If you spend a significant amount of time on social media you are most likely to come across this TVC and yes, I am talking about the Kakoli Furniture TVC.
The Kakoli furniture TVC has created such a buzz on the internet and this is not something new to us. All of us are so invested in making content for social media that it can take only a few moments to make something viral within a few hours, and if those contents are coated with loads of humorous stuff then, it will take minutes to flood your newsfeed. The same thing happened with this TVC. I am not going to lie that this TVC is very unusual and all the fun content that came along with it made me laugh. But what surprised me is how it engaged a large audience and how people are now visiting this small local furniture shop located in Gazipur just for the fun of it.
A lot might say this is a negative marketing strategy but is it so? Is creating a buzz on the internet and creating controversy can be scaled using the same scale? To me, the answer is no. It is quite clear that the people behind this TVC do not hold degrees in marketing from reputed business schools, the whole shot was impromptu and they did not have proper technical support. But yet it has reached so many people because of generation Z’s obsession with internet meme culture.
As we are currently going through the 4th industrial revolution, it is also
important for the agencies and digital marketers to foresee the effects of
blockchain technology in digital marketing and advertising
Even popular burger shop Chillox used the catchphrase of this TVC as an advertisement which has around 12,000 people reacting and 885 people sharing that post on Facebook. Navigating and getting customers' reactions and feedback through digital platforms can bring huge advantages to any business. Chillox has used this small and subtle trick to engage with its customer once again and if you scroll down to the comment section of that post you could see a lot of negative comments on their quality of burger buns. All of this information is valuable and much needed for businesses to tweak their product offering. Advertisements on digital platforms work as a conversation starter in this regard.
Advertising can be seen as a cultural element in the neoliberal capitalist market. Since the early 2005’s this industry has gone through rapid growth and changes. Some TVC like Nescafe's “cholo shobai”, RC cola’s catchy song, and Danish’s TVC that showed a glimpse of Switzerland did also created a buzz back in the days when social media was non-existent and became a part of our pop culture. Jingle-based story-based advertisements that showed human emotions have catered the path of the advertising industry in our country and we eventually transitioned to the digital advertising era.
But digital marketing and advertising is still in a transitional phase with a lot of fluctuations. Companies in our country are spending nearly Tk 1,000 crore every year on digital marketing on Facebook and Google to reach their target audience and yet failing to reach satisfactory standards for the clients. Digital advertising agencies are failing to come up with engaging advertisements. Understanding the behavioral pattern of the gen-z’s who are the majority of social media users could be the answer to this problem.
As we are currently going through the 4th industrial revolution, it is also important for the agencies and digital marketers to foresee the effects of blockchain technology in digital marketing and advertising. Cryptocurrency like bitcoin is getting popular and big companies like Tesla have helped launch bitcoin into the mainstream. But recently after Elon Musk's tweet on not to accept bitcoin over climate concerns, bitcoin fell more than 10 per cent.
Even though cryptocurrency is seen as an attractive alternative, it’s effect on the future of social media and digital marketing is still uncertain. The blockchain power can make consumers more powerful as it gives a complete control for the customers over the companies that have their information. This could shrink the audience size and could be an expensive choice for the companies. So, it can be said that there is a possibility that digital marketing and advertising could become much more challenging and competitive in future.
Effects of social media in digital marketing and advertising is indispensable. Since the digital marketing industry is entering a new era where blockchain technology might have a tremendous effect on it, it is important for marketers to acknowledge the pros and cons of it.
Marketers must also understand the behavioral pattern of consumers through social media and must devise ways to engage with consumers through innovative advertising.
Tasfia Tasnim is a Dhaka University student pursuing her BBA in Organization Strategy and Leadership.
