Come Holi, Indian streets are dotted with people applying colors on each other. Gifts and sweets are exchanged strengthening emotional bonds between loved ones. However, the catastrophe of the global pandemic brought Holi celebrations to a complete halt. Local governments imposed strict restrictions for public or private celebrations to limit large gatherings for effective control of the pandemic. Lockdown and social distancing restrictions dampened the festive spirits further.

India witnessed a ‘structural shift’ in consumer behavior during the lockdown. As per Trade Brains, India’s home delivery market grew by 80% due to COVID-19 lockdown, as consumers were compelled to order online due to safety concerns. This shifted their attitude towards home-delivery and started to see it as the most convenient and safest way to order.

In this ‘new normal’, Surf excel wanted to foster the ‘togetherness’ through the colors of Holi by making colors travel the distance that couldn’t.

With massive surge in home deliveries due to lockdown, we identified this as an ideal moment and enabled a unique partnership with Dunzo, India’s largest hyperlocal delivery app.

With 2 MN+ monthly users, Dunzo helped bridge the distance between loved ones. Users were able to celebrate Holi with their friends & family ‘from a distance’ by sending Surf’s ‘Box of Happiness’ consisting of Holi essentials such as colors, balloons, sweets to their loved ones in no time! We introduced a hassle-free ‘opt-in’ feature allowing users to add the ‘Box of Happiness’ at checkout. Users were nudged with contextual in-app brand communications. For the first time celebrity influencers and key opinion leaders (KOLs) joined the celebrations by bringing alive their personal relationships by creating videos of them celebrating Holi with their loved ones who were far away. Leading publishers captured real life stories of people celebrating distant Holi despite social isolation.

Surf Excel has always connected to affluent mothers through children in all their communications. This path-breaking approach has enabled the brand to tell many an engaging story, essentially centered around children doing good deeds without the fear of getting their clothes dirty.

This Holi, Surf wanted millions of Indians to get dirty and celebrate the festival from the safety of their homes. Inorder to create a powerful and emotional connect with people, we had to wash off brand’s traditional targeting boundaries.

As the global pandemic changed the way Indians celebrate festivals, our strategy had to combine two massive changes in consumer behavior:

1. Home delivery market grew by 80% due to COVID-19 lockdown, as consumers were compelled to order online due to safety concerns

2. 55% Indians spent more time on social apps compared to pre-lockdown with over 40% users spending more time on the Instagram compared to other apps

We combined the power of Dunzo and celebrity influencers as follows:

• In-app push notifications: We amplified the communication at the start of the festivities by nudging users through push notifications and social media posts

• ‘Opt-in’ feature: We built a hassle-free ‘opt-in’ feature at checkout page allowing users to add the ‘Box of Happiness’ and send it to their dear ones with sweets.

• Last-Mile delivery: We transformed Dunzo’s delivery agents into ‘Agents of Happiness’ who ensured that the ‘Box of Happiness’ was delivered in no time

• Building word-of-mouth: We leveraged real-life relationships of celebrity influencers as Rhea Kapoor, Pooja Dhingra, Mithila Palkar to amplify the message wherein every influencer sent a box of happiness to their dear ones who was at a distance

•Amplification via Publishers: Leading publishers such as Humans of Bombay, The Logical Indian and Better India further amplified the communications on their respective platforms

By embracing the combined power of Surf excel alongside Dunzo and celebrity influencers, we were able to reach 15 MN+ and change people’s sentiments during the festival of Holi.

• Positive sentiments increased by 94%

• Thousands of boxes were wiped off effortlessly

• 4.5MN+ impressions were garnered through Dunzo social media

• 4.5% increase in social media engagement

• 9.5 MN views were garnered through Influencer plan on Instagram alone

• The campaigned earned PR worth USD 1.1MN+

“First Holi away from home, but thanks to Surf excel and Dunzo I was able to celebrate a virtual Holi party with my parents by sending them the Holi box. We were all in tears, the happy kinds” ~Dunzo user