MakeMyTrip launches new campaign with Ranveer-Alia; Targets first time users to book hotels online !
New campaign aims at first-time users by providing ‘first-night free’ – a first-ever offering by MakeMyTrip on online hotels booking.
Brand Ambassadors Ranveer Singh and Alia Bhatt play fun characters in quirky avatars in the new TVC.
MakeMyTrip Limited (Nasdaq: MMYT), India’s leading online travel company, today announced the launch of its new TV campaign with its brand ambassadors – Ranveer Singh and Alia Bhatt. In line with its aggressive push to drive consumers to shift from offline to online hotel bookings, MakeMyTrip is providing yet another compelling reason for customers to make the switch by offering first night free on hotels booked by first times users.
The first night free offer on online hotel bookings is valid across 44,000 domestic hotels and is now Live for booking on the MakeMyTrip app and website.
Travel industry in India is on a high growth path and the online hotel booking marketplace is only 16% penetrated with the bulk of users still choosing offline methods for hotel booking. In the last 5 years, India has seen tremendous growth in internet users which stands close to 450 million customers at the back of increased smartphone usage. Close to 100 million of these are e-commerce users and more than half of them are using digital mediums to make payments. Being the leading online travel company, MakeMyTrip is trying to tap the massive opportunity provided by the e-commerce ready users to drive online hotel penetration.
Speaking at the launch, Mr. Rajesh Magow, Co-Founder and CEO-India, MakeMyTrip, said, “The hotel market in India is highly fragmented, under-penetrated and presents significant headroom for growth. As we see the increase in smartphone penetration and usage of digital payment mediums, we want to unlock the huge opportunity provided by the e-commerce ready users to drive online hotel penetration. Our new campaign reflects our larger business strategy of rapidly growing our hotels business and will help us step on the gas to bring new customers into the online hotel category”
Commenting on the new TVC and offering, Saujanya Shrivastava, Group CMO, MakeMyTrip said, “Over the last few years, MMT has been focusing on category expansion in the Online Hotels space by bringing down the entry barrier for travellers. This new campaign is in sync with our objective to catalyse the switch by nudging the fence sitters and offline hotel bookers to experience the convenience of online travel.”
To drive adoption, the company has launched a 360° marketing campaign including TVCs featuring the brand’s celebrity ambassadors –Ranveer Singh and Alia Bhatt in quirky avatars. The campaign will be on for 5 weeks across high-impact properties and platforms like TV including cricket, Cinema across 380 screens in 13 cities in south India, building awareness and amplification on digital platforms like Facebook, Youtube etc to create engagement with impact.
The characters in the TVC have been brought to life by Publicis Capital. Highlighting the creative standpoint behind the film, Bobby Pawar, Chief Creative Officer & Managing director, Publicis India said: “Despite the limited advantage that it offers, many customers still prefer to book their hotels via the offline route. We had to break that myth and inform the customers that booking hotel rooms via online is a far more convenient method and scores over any other medium of booking because of the compelling offer clubbed in it. With Ranveer-Alia at the helm, this film manages to make quite a mark with the audiences.”
The TVCs will be on air for a period of 5 weeks on GECs, news, cricket and movie channels and is available for viewing here: http://
Credit Roll:
Creative Agency: Publicis Capital
CEO India : Hemant Misra
Managing Director and CCO, South Asia (Creative) : Bobby Pawar
Production house: Chrome Pictures
Director (film): Amit Sharma
Producer: Poonam Wahi
Location Courtesy: Mumbai
Duration: 45, 30 and 20 secs
Language: Hindi, Marathi, Bengali, Tamil and Kannada.
