Rahul Bose banana moment turns into ad campaigns for many brands

Hotel JW Marriott, Chandigarh, may have stepped on a banana peel and fallen flat on its face after charging actor Rahul Bose Rs 422.50 for two bananas, but a host of brands are having a good laugh with cheeky ads.

Reliance Retail, Nature’s Basket, Amazon Prime, Pepsi-Co, Pizza Hut and hospitality firm Oyo among others have come up with spoof ads based on the episode soon after Bose’s tweet about it went viral.

Amazon Prime tweeted a comparative ad titled “What you get for Rs 422.” On one side, it showed two ripe bananas and on the other, it listed a host of services it offers, including three months of subscription of the video streaming platform, free delivery of products purchased from Amazon.in, music streaming and e-book among other services, and the customer will be still left with Rs 55.

“There is no reason to say Na-Na to our bananas,” said an ad by Godrej’s retail chain Nature’s Basket that came with its own #RahulBoseMoment. It showed the price for a pair of bananas at Rs 14 after putting a cross on Rs 422.50.

“Trending moments like these in social media provide a great opportunity for brands to connect with the audience in a more relatable way,” said Jayant Chauhan, chief product officer at Policybazaar.com that too has come out with a cheeky comparison ad over the incident. “The #rahulbosemoment is a classic example, where it helped us to create awareness around insurance with a sprinkle of entertainment on the side,” he said. To add injury to insult, Chandigarh excise and taxation department has slapped a penalty of Rs 25,000 on JW Marriott for overcharging.

A Google search on ‘banana’ throws up stories around the Bose-Marriott episode on top while Twitterattis have literally gone bananas sharing their own ‘Rahul Bose moment’ and memes such as ‘diamond-studded banana’.

Marketers joined in the fun in no time.

“It is imperative for brands to communicate with consumers through different moments. In fact, consumers today appreciate when brands share topical content,” said PepsiCo marketing director Vineet Sharma.

Brand specialist and social commentator Santosh Desai said: “It’s a meme worthy kind of event and presents a good opportunity for brands.”

“Creating relevant topical content that resonates with consumers is key to our digital strategy,” said Prashant Gaur, chief brand & customer officer, Pizza Hut.

Source:-https://retail.economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/industry/rahul-bose-banana-moment-turns-into-ad-campaigns-for-many-brands/70442716