How Magnon Cruised Crisis With “Collective Ownership”

The recent pandemic brought us face-to-face with a crippling crisis that redefined human interaction and changed the way we live and work. However, this pandemic also triggered the floodgates of human ingenuity and productivity. Both big brands and creators were forced to innovate when faced with unprecedented limitations of remote work and restrictions to shoot in the first half of the year. The use of authentic self-shot videos, low budget / indoor shoots and user-generated content engaged the audiences and became a norm. 

Amid the Covid restrictions and ensuing uncertainty, brands and folks in the creative fraternity were also forced to rethink and re-evaluate the messaging in the current context. New self-censorship models had to be put in place to ensure a sense check on creatives and to make them relevant to the times. Every content piece went through rigorous scrutiny to fit in the new pandemic-influenced worldview. Even though the term creator’s economy has been there for a few years now, it was only in Covid crisis that we actually saw it bloom in the current digital landscape.

Magnon was one of the few agencies that pulled out all the stops and demonstrated its work capabilities during this testing time. Its ‘10 Days of OnaMoments’ campaign for HP, targeting Malayalis spread across the globe, is a classic case in point. Based on the travel restrictions announced, this 10-day social media campaign highlighted the unique custom and nuances of each day. What made it extra special was the seamless inclusion of two of the most powerful products of the brand associated with learning. The campaign showcased how celebrations and emotions can touch hearts even when people are unable to meet face to face. 

Their #ChangeTheNarrative Digital Campaign for Haier was also nothing short of bold. On the occasion of occasion of Mother’s Day, the campaign underscored the idea of celebrating the women in our lives who raised us, guided us, and mothered us. The campaign spanning 5 days, had a total reach of over 6.5 million, with engagement of over 100 thousand across Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.

The agency’s festive campaign for Daikin India is another testament of their in-house talent, that pushed forward impactful ideas during the uncertain time. Here, the agency executed an awareness campaign for the brand that outperformed the industry standards. With creative banners showcasing amazing offers and various region-wise landing pages, the campaign saw over 31 million impressions, over 15.5 million reach with almost 500k clicks. Using a simple Enquiry Form on these landing pages, customers were connected to the nearby dealers, which resulted in over 200k users on the landing page and a total of 1,664 leads.

Cause & Creativity

Giving us an overview of the the campaigns in the first half of the pandemic year, Denny Joseph, Business Director, Magnon eg+ and Palak Malik, Sr. Manager (Creative Services), Magnon eg+ assert, “They were focused on PSAs themed around stay-at-home and creating awareness around best practices to avoid the infection. The brands at this point softened the tone and humanized themselves to keep their consumer connected, even when they weren't buying. Some of the memorable COVID ad campaigns - TikTok’s #matkarforward campaign was iconic and forced us all to fact check before forwarding. Ariel’s #sharetheload campaign helped in challenging the gender stereotypes in the domestic space. Many brands focused on celebratory stories of everyday heroes/ frontline workers like Uber’s ad campaign ‘Thank you for not riding uber’ or Google’s ‘Thank You Healthcare Workers’.”

From a product messaging standpoint, the agency focussed on the three C's - Care, Comfort & Connection. “As a digital and creative agency and partners to global tech & FMCG brands, we saw brands develop a renewed focus on maximising their e-commerce footprint. Across categories, we’ve seen brands highlighting e-commerce offerings with a focus on those customers who historically only shopped in physical locations to entice them to shop online. 

There was a renewed focus on micro influencers and community building activities to bolster recall. Our recent PUGC campaign for Haier, #HaierHoliChallenge, led by over 60 influencers Dhanashree Verma Chahal and Aly Gony garnered over 3 million views in the first 3 days of going Live.

We also saw storytelling evolve to be more authentic & personalised. Innovations to customise content solutions at scale grew. Thus, the pandemic saw a huge shift in marketeer behaviour that perfectly reflected the emerging consumer behaviour,” state Joseph & Malik.

Building Leaders For Tomorrow

Agreeing that that the year gone by has exerted unprecedented strain on leaders, their teams and their businesses Vineet Bajpai, Founder & CEO, Magnon Group believes that the contemporary leader today needs to balance several human and organizational goals - client value, business profitability, management continuity, employee welfare, and a lot more. “Thankfully, at Magnon we have always had a strong culture of intrapreneurship. We believe in empowering our employees to be entrepreneurs within the company’s ecosystem. As remote working became the new normal in the pandemic, we paid more attention to collaborative decision-making and collective ownership - all this while keeping our clients’ interests paramount.”

For Bajpai, in this new reality, leaders will be expected to drive three fundamental goals simultaneously - a) Deliver continuous value to clients/consumers through impeccable operational efficiency and market readiness; b) Ensure sustained financial success for their businesses by using technology, innovative processes and strategic agility; c) Pay special attention to employee cohesiveness and welfare, almost in a parental role.
 
 

Keeping Up With The New Rules Of The Game

The advertising game is changing and keeping up with the dynamic market is a new challenge altogether. For Bajpai, this was a much-needed change that was long due for the advertising and marketing ecosystem. “Measurability of performance had to impact this space sooner or later, and Covid-19 has only accelerated that process. This metamorphosis is similar to what the big consulting firms witnessed during the 90s, when clients stopped paying simply for knowledge – and began to demand real implementation. And those firms responded with tremendous energy. Similarly, arrival of the digital ‘judgement-day’ on the advertising and marketing landscape has provided marketers with the tech-tools required to evaluate the impact of every marketing dollar spent. At Magnon, we welcome this change. The ‘big idea’ is still important. But the ‘big execution’ is what will propel agencies of the future,” he says. 

On the client front, there has been a fundamental shift no doubt, especially in the areas of overall ROI consciousness from clients, and a more accelerated shift to the digital medium. “With Covid-19 came the unprecedented strains of restricted marketing budgets – ironically combined with the need for superior consumer engagement. Marketers have responded with alacrity, and agencies have been their allies in managing this transformation. Data-driven advertising, analytics based deep-retargeting, dynamic creative optimization... this is the currency in which the modern marketer and the contemporary agency are dealing in now,” he suggests.