The communication goal was to position Planet M as the ultimate destination for genuine music lovers. The task was to do this in a youthful, original, irreverent and cost-effective manner. The core idea was to take an Indian marriage band through the streets of Mumbai, playing awful music and a banner saying - “FOR BETTER MUSIC THERE’S PLANET M”. A simple and inexpensive way of promoting Planet M, the music store, as the ultimate destination for music lovers.

We started with a quest for the worst possible live band in the country. With Indian marriage bands we certainly hit rock bottom. No other musical outfit in the country could provide us with the cacophony that we were searching for. So we compiled a list of marriage bands from the yellow pages and started auditioning a few bands to see if they’d sink to our expectations. It wasn’t as easy as we thought. But we finally, we found them.The dates were set and the route was charted through the city’s most populated parts. Movie theatres, restaurants, colleges, clubs, crowded shops and malls to name a few. We set out towards the unsuspecting masses and watched them recoil in horror at the massacre of their favourite tunes. A glance at the banner, and their faces would light up with a smile. Some would nod their heads in approval and others would stare avidly from an appreciable distance.

The very sight of an Indian marriage band is a head turner. Grown men dressed in bright red jackets, shining brass buttons, ill-fitting trousers and an equally garish hat. And to add to it all a shiny trumpet, a rattling snare drum, a screeching clarinet and cymbals to wake up the dead. At the end of it all, after all the fingers poked into pained ears, sniggers, scowls and rolled up eyes, we could surmise one thing for sure. There’s better music at Planet M. The media team charted out a detailed itinerary of the event. Stretched over two days, the media team identified 8 prime locations across Mumbai where we could best capture our target audience of music lovers. This list included colleges, movie theatres, shopping malls and beaches. The media team also helped us obtain permission from the respective police stations for the event. Planet M, a nation-wide music chain, required a simple and cost-effective means of spreading brand awareness. Using an Indian marriage band seemed perfect. Marriage bands are usually seen at Indian marriage processions, playing popular music in their typically out-of-tune manner. They’re an intrinsic part of Indian cultural landscape and symbolize the opposite of what Planet M stands for. Which is great music.Further, the event created a large amount of publicity through word-of-mouth and newspaper coverage, which multiplied brand recall.And finally, the cost of the entire exercise was only 50,000 Rupees (About1100$) which is cheaper than a 50 cc colour ad in the city’s leading newspaper.

The media team charted out a detailed itinerary of the event. Stretched over two days, the media team identified 8 prime locations across Mumbai where we could best capture our target audience of music lovers. This list included colleges, movie theatres, shopping malls and beaches. The media team also helped us obtain permission from the respective police stations for the event.