Summary
From OLX pe Bech de. To - Teri Bhi Happy, Meri Bhi Happy campaign
Challenge
Right from "Bech de' to ‘Break up challenge' Olx had inadvertently positioned 2nd hand things as something unworthy that the seller needed to get rid of ASAP because it was too old, too embarrassing, taking up space, or to earn cash for better things in life. This had inadvertently made the buyer wary as they started seeing the Olx second-hand as undesirable discards that the seller was desperate to get rid of. Our challenge was to raise the stature of 2nd hand goods/things in order to change the perception of buyers and the overall image of OLX.
Objective
Olx pe Bech De (just sell it on Olx). This was a big challenge for Olx at an overall company level. Secondhand is what Olx does, its entire business model. If it couldn't win over buyers, it couldn't grow. It had to break the perception that Olx = substandard ‘puraana maal' (old things) There are a few important terms by which Olx measures how things are going. 1. Daily Active Users- how many people are interacting with the platform across all channels. 2. Monthly active users- same metric but at a monthly level 3. Daily average replies- are the daily buyer enquiries across categories (auto, home etc) 4. Daily unique buyers- How many of those can be converted to a intent to buy 5. Daily unique listings- the same thing but for sellers These are the crucial metrics for Olx. And the objective of any campaign is to drive them.
Strategy
The typical strategy across online classified brands was to try and reposition the secondhand car, fridge, piano, table, etc., using some common arguments. The value argument (great product at a low cost) The smart-buyer argument (I didn't waste so much money) The ‘try something new often' argument (today its golf, tomorrow its tennis) The ‘look before you leap' argument (bought an original DSLR and now don't like photography?) These were valid reasons. But none of them would matter if they stopped working after a week! No matter what you said about the secondhand item, its reliability was inextricably linked with its seller! We realized that most people weren't fundamentally opposed to secondhand, They were just worried about the character, trustworthiness, and ‘niyat' (intentions) of the seller. Why were they getting rid of it? Did they know it was spoiled? How do I know I can trust this person? Insight-2 The seller's character & profile is the only warranty card in a secondhand sale! Unlike first-hand goods, secondhand products don't have a signed/stamped warranty card. It all comes down to the buyer's perception of the person selling it. This made us realize that our task was not to focus on elevating the 2nd hand item in the minds of the buyer but elevating the 2nd hand seller instead. If that happened, they would feel more reassured about their decision. But we couldn't simply say "trust them". We had to reframe the seller narrative- about their reasons for wanting to sell their items on Olx beyond cash. Raise the perception of what kind of people were selling on Olx and why Create alternate ‘origin stories' for secondhand. Reframe the seller as someone who had to let go of a perfectly functional thing for a great and the unexpected reason beyond cash
Data
4.4 million daily active users 2.4 million daily buyers inquiries .796 million daily unique buyers Overall second-hand goods market not performing well as people were wary of goods listed on OLX.
Solution
STEP 1 We started by picking the most relevant product. Bikes, Furniture, TVs, Smartphone, Fridges, Cupboards These were important for Olx as these were the high volume/value categories STEP 2 We launched a TV campaign under the tagline Teri Bhi Happy, Meri Bhi Happy (now you're happy, and I'm happy) • A barbershop owner who wants to sell his TV because his barbers are distracted by it, A pediatrician buys the TV to distract kids while he's giving them injections. • A stern HR head who wants to sell the office fridge to prevent parties in the office, A chill HR head who buys the fridge to have more office parties. • A tall strapping tattooed dude who is leaving Bangalore and wants to sell his bike, A skinny, nerdy engineer who has just moved to Bangalore and needs a bike. 30 and 15 seconder spots of these were run on TV STEP 3 Increase the stature of secondhand by raising the profile of the sellers. We partnered with the one group of people who had no reason to buy or sell secondhand- Celebrity Influencers and got them to list their things on Olx. Aparshakti Khurana listing his camera. Chef Sanjeev listed his microwave Varun Sharma listing his electric guitar. In one stroke, this infused codes of stature in secondhand like never before helping create distance between Olx and the idea that its sellers sold ‘cash-for-clunkers'. We turned the popular ‘unboxing' phenomenon by creating a new verb ‘Boxing' – the practice of listing one's old items on Olx This was seeded under #BoxUnbox to ensure that both buyers-sellers are covered. STEP 4 Generated UGC content via Tik-Tok. To drive traction in the crucial bike/scooter segment we launched the #OlxKiya? the challenge to encourage sellers to list their 2-wheelers on Olx.
Results
The campaign drove daily traffic to OLX in a big way in 6 months OLX added 17 lakh, daily users. it also added 87 lakh monthly active users in the same period. (This represented the sharpest increase in total users added thanks to a single campaign in years.) The big spike in buying behavior – inquiries on OLX went up by 1.7 million a day. What's more – In categories that were covered by the campaign (appliance, furniture, Tv's, musical instrument, etc) inquiries went up from 1.4 million a day to 2.7 million a day- A staggering 92% increase in 6 months. Daily unique buyers went up by 4 lakh a day. What's more – in the categories covered by the campaign (appliance, furniture, Musical instrument, TV'etc, daily unique buyers went up by 76% Positive movements of key brand metrics in the very next brand track. +22% feel safe and secure +19% has a lot of product categories to choose from +18% is a brand for someone like me +14% average endorsement
