In the modern context, brands’ primary concern is to remain relevant and engage with the consumer at the necessary rate – in the digital environment, this rate is real-time.This is where moment marketing comes in – a way through which brands can harness the power of timely events, cultures or trends and accompany them with content. From a critical sports event to the latest social media craze or any other important global event, moment marketing helps brands to create relevant, relevant, and influential campaigns. In this blog post, we will not only understand what moment marketing is but also why brands need it, and look into some of the Indian and global moment marketing examples.
Related Statistics
- According to a survey, 76% of marketing professionals believe that real-time marketing is essential for brands to engage with their audience.
- 64% of consumers are more likely to trust a brand that interacts with them in real time.
What is Real-Time Marketing?
It is the strategy of responding immediately to live events, trending topics, or customer actions as they unfold. It emphasizes quick reactions to keep the brand engaged with its audience in real-time.
- Key Aspect: Instant response to any event or trend in the present moment.
- Execution: Often spontaneous and unplanned, driven by breaking news, live events, or social media conversations.
- Example: Oreo’s famous “You Can Still Dunk in the Dark” tweet. During the 2013 Super Bowl blackout was a classic real-time marketing move.
What is Moment Marketing?
Moment marketing is a marketing technique that is carried out in real-time by the brands aiming to connect with the target audience by making use of current events, reports or other notable events. Such marketing is done through popular topics in the world to catch up with the emotions or interests at hand which enrich the content so that it can be shared to many people. It is performing a task that is fast, effective, and makes sense all at the same time many times requiring one to know the audience and the society’s moods.
What is the difference between Real-Time Marketing and Moment Marketing?
Real-time marketing and moment marketing are different, though they share similarities. Here’s a breakdown of the key differences:
Planning: Real-time Marketing vs Moment Marketing
- Real-Time Marketing is more spontaneous and reactive, often based on immediate developments.
- Moment Marketing can be both planned (around predictable events like holidays) or reactive (responding to unexpected cultural moments).
Scope: Real-time Marketing vs Moment Marketing
- Real-Time Marketing is most often associated with events or trends that occur within a few hours at most or even days.
- Moment Marketing focuses on extended cultural or emotional moments, which are more visible and lasting than the hashtag events (e.g., festive seasons, sports tournaments).
Purpose: Real-time Marketing vs Moment Marketing
- Real-Time Marketing focuses on timely engagement, often to ride a trend before it dies down.
- Moment Marketing is more about creating relevance by associating the brand with significant moments in culture or consumer life.
Example: Real-time Marketing vs Moment Marketing
- Real-Time Marketing: A brand live-tweeting during an award show or reacting to a breaking news event.
- Moment Marketing: A brand releasing special offers during Diwali or using a popular cricket tournament to engage with consumers through tailored campaigns.
In essence, moment marketing can be seen as a subset of real-time marketing, but it often focuses more on specific moments that resonate emotionally or culturally, whereas real-time marketing is more focused on reacting to what’s happening right now.
Why is Moment Marketing Important for Brands?
1. Instant Visibility
Endorsing trending topics makes brands go viral. Human as Themed: Using trending issues brings instant traffic to brands. When achieved well, moment marketing becomes part of a bigger discussion; it captures people’s attention.
2. Increased Engagement
When people are actively reading something, they go to the articles that interest them at the time. It could be a sports match, a carnival, or even the popular hashtag conversation going round – moment marketing makes a shared familiarity between the brand and its public.
3. Cost-Effective Marketing
Most moment marketing takes place on social media, which means that it is not necessarily very expensive. A microblog responding to a trend can be very powerful and can reach millions of people for little cost.
4. Humanizing the Brand
To summarise, brands that are real-time are more personal, engaging, and overall, consummately responsible. For the audience it makes them understand that the brand is aware of the events in their life, resulting in more brand loyalty.
Moment Marketing Examples in India
India has been a fertile ground for moment marketing, with brands creatively leveraging festivals, elections, cricket matches, and viral social media moments to engage their audience.
1. Zomato & IPL
The Indian Premier League (IPL) has been a marketing goldmine for long. When you have millions watching the tournament on television, it makes so much sense for food-tech giant Zomato to put out witty tweets and posts., often around food, just when matches are getting interesting. In the 2020 IPL season, they tweeted: “If you are reading this. It means you missed one more ball. It’s like your food delivery person sometimes leaves your house.” The post was funny and spot-on about the tournament.
2. Amul’s Topical Ads
Amul is considered the king of momentary marketing and real-time marketing in India. Over the years, these dairy brands have learnt how to create advertisements that are in some way a reflection of current events skillfully.
One of Amul’s most recent moment marketing examples is their ad celebrating the Chandrayaan-3 mission, India’s successful lunar mission. Following the historic landing of Chandrayaan-3 on the moon in August 2023, Amul released a creative topical ad featuring their famous mascot, the “Amul Girl,” standing on the moon holding a flag. The ad’s witty tagline read, “Moon meetha karo”, cleverly blending space exploration with their dairy products.
Not only this, Amul’s ads are quick to respond to pop culture and current events. Leveraging moment marketing by aligning its product with key cultural moments is a great strategy. The real-time nature of these ads ensures that Amul is always a part of ongoing public discourse, be it movies, sports, politics, or any major event.
For instance, during the film, Singham went viral, Amul came up with a humorous take on the film through the slogan ‘Kolhapur ka Singham, butter’,” instead of ‘Satakli!
This timely ad was launched while the movie was trending. It showcased Amul’s knack for staying relevant by quickly responding to pop culture moments and engaging audiences with humor.
The same happened at the time of “Telugu Movie Pushpa” with a tag line “PushPack the Slice,” and a playful line, “Have some Amullu, Arjun!”.
It was most appropriate that this ad came out at a time when everyone was talking about Pushpa. This action made this information familiar and more interesting to a broad range of people. This action made it relatable and engaging for a wide audience. Amul effectively ties its butter to the cultural buzz around the movie, ensuring brand visibility and relevance.
3. Paytm – Demonetization in India
When the Indian government announced demonetization in 2016, which invalidated ₹500 and ₹1,000 notes overnight, Paytm seized the moment. The brand launched the ad with the tagline “ATM nahi, Paytm Karo” (Don’t go to the ATM, use Paytm). This not only helped make Paytm a solution for cashless transactions. But it is also perfectly aligned with a national project that affects millions of people.
4. Spotify
Concept of #HarBallPePlaylist
Fans of cricket go through a spectrum of emotions during the IPL season. The nail-biting tension to the heart-racing excitement of seeing their favorite teams slug it out on the field. Capitalizing on the pulse of its audience, Spotify came up with a curated campaign around #HarBallPePlaylist (A playlist for every Ball) to have music available for each moment in the game. The intention was to develop playlists curating music for every moment of the game. Be it a team just a few runs away from the win or an incredible boundary, they created a playlist for every moment.
Spotify India’s Meme-Based Marketing (2022)
Spotify India has been using memes effectively as part of its marketing strategy over time. This is especially true during the ongoing meme culture trend on social media platforms. For example, when the meme “Pawari Ho Rahi Hai” went viral, Spotify India created a series of funny posts. It involves a meme with a popular party playlist on Spotify Jumping. In this viral moment, Spotify is using humor and relevancy to connect. young audience.
5. Maggi – World Food Day
On World Food Day, Maggi India turned a special day into a moment marketing opportunity by celebrating the fact that they are the ultimate comfort food for most of us. They put out some heartwarming posts on how a steamy bowl of Maggi has seen us through ages, from midnight hunger pangs to in-between meetings. And then, they requested other fans to share their own #MyMaggiMoments tagging which garnered a lot of eyeballs.
6. Ola’s Chandrayaan-2 Campaign
The playful campaign from Ola made use of the buzz around India’s Chandrayaan-2 mission. A straightforward image that showed a picture of the moon along with an Ola logo and said: “Drop location: The Moon”. This ad serves as conversation and comedy fuel on social networks. Ola then built a series of creative ads and promotions that established the brand message as well as tapped into the public excitement for space exploration.
7. Bisleri’s Clever Use of Moment Marketing with Chandrayaan 2 Theme
In a stroke of marketing genius, Bisleri tapped into the excitement surrounding India’s Chandrayaan 2 space mission. The brand released an ad in which camels in the desert are seen drinking Bisleri water, with the lines “Har Space Mission Chandrayaan 2 Nahin” and “Har Paani Ki Bottle Bisleri Nahin”. (Not every space mission is Chandrayaan 2, and not every water bottle is Bisleri).
This ad cleverly draws a parallel between the uniqueness and prestige of Chandrayaan 2 and Bisleri’s purity in the industry. By linking itself to a moment of national pride and innovation, Bisleri effectively positioned its brand as the go-to choice for quality and reliability, standing out in a crowded market.
Conclusion
Moment marketing examples prove the success of great timing, creativity, and relevance in contemporary branding. Connecting with current events and trends gives a boost. It helps keep a brand on top of mind and encourages an authentic form of communication between a brand and its audience. Whether it’s referencing a holiday, commenting on a video that’s gone viral, or discussing breaking news, using current event triggers helps humanize a brand’s message within our fast-paced world. In fact, moment marketing has become so vital for brands to better relate with their audience in today’s digital era.
