We’ve heard of brand wars, we’ve heard of brands trying to make each other look bad by spoofing their ad campaigns, and now we’ve seen brands actually copying the leader of a campaign idea.
MakeMyTrip has for the past few months been running the #BefikarBookKar campaign. They came out with two ads with Alia and Ranveer playing different characters.
The first commercials
Then they launched the third one in which they changed the online hotel booking landscape by offering hotel cancellations without any penalty.
The second round
MakeMyTrip had found a major pain point for consumers and had started addressing it. This idea was such a game-changer that Goibibo, a competing brand not only started offering a similar deal. Not so difficult that one. However, what is interesting is that they also felt compelled to go as far as to copy the campaign hashtag.
#befikarGoKar?
#BefikarBookKar and #befikarGoKar. It’s a bit like the case of Lois Vutton and Lacaste, isn’t it? Didn’t think we’d ever see a first copy in advertising, but hey never say never, right?
Of course when we went back to the same URL the hashtag had been changed to #GoTensionFree as is now visible, which shows that Goibibo is paying attention to what is being said on social media. Always a good sign that. Here we thought we had the beginnings of a new brand war, but it was over too soon.
Author: Tora Sen
