This V-Day, OYO Hotels & Homes launches the ‘Long-term relationship with OYO’ campaign featuring Neena Gupta; says women lead decisions around travel

New Delhi, 11th February 2021: Valentine’s Day is just around the corner. Women’s Day isn’t too far away either. No matter what, we know for sure that love is in the air. However, doing things differently this season of love, OYO Hotels & Homes, the world’s leading hospitality chain is leading its Valentine’s Day campaign with strong women at the forefront of all things love. On 5th February, OYO kickstarted its digital campaign ‘Long-term relationship with OYO’, featuring Neena Gupta and Swanand Kirkire as the lead protagonists of its four digital films. 

Following the first film, ‘Same Hotel’, OYO will roll out four digital films throughout February. These simple yet quirky films depict a middle-aged couple’s chemistry while travelling. The idea of OYO’s latest campaign centered around women stemmed from a deep dive on consideration among consumers across different cohorts. This internal study brought to light a very important insight – women were the key decision-makers when it came to booking a getaway, holiday, or vacation. In eight out of ten cases, women drove the conversation and took the final decision around travel. Keeping these findings at the core of the campaign to drive overall consideration for the brand, OYO decided to talk to the real decision-maker – women. This earmarks a shift from a neutral position to a woman forward approach in its campaign by focussing on four main objectives – to enable, build aspiration, likeability, and last but not the least, communicate safety to its key stakeholder – women. 

In the first film, the protagonists who have been in a long-term relationship, played by Swanand Kirkire and Neena Gupta engage in playful bickering on choosing the ‘Same Hotel’ time after time. The film ends with Neena’s rather metaphorical question ‘I am not bored, are you?’ subtly hinting at their long-lasting relationship.  The film also subtly communicates OYO’s high repeat customer demand. The second film ‘Cosy Cosy’ revolves around a playful discussion around a planned cosy candlelight dinner that ends up with Neena’s decision to call for in-room dining instead. This film effectively showcases OYO’s quality and comfortable stays. The third film and the fourth films are based on cute moments of appreciation between the two. These films highlight enjoying the little things in an otherwise mundane life and OYO’s presence across key locations respectively. All the films end with the sound of a playful tune of ‘Yeh Rishta Hai Thoda Khiska’, simply bringing to life the equations of different relationships, be it mother-daughter, brother-sister, husband-wife, among others in India.

Commenting on OYO’s data-driven approach towards its campaign, Yatish Jain – Chief Growth Officer – OYO Hotels & Homes, India & South Asia said, “As the world’s largest technology-led hospitality chain, data runs deep through OYO’s DNA. We believe that speaking with our consumers directly and understanding them better will enable us to provide the best guest experiences, as well as, ensure sustainable growth in the long term for OYO. This Valentine’s Day, we wanted to cut through the clutter, launch a campaign that speaks to our target audience by connecting at a personal level. Once our data showcased that women were the key decision-makers, we sat with a problem statement – How to increase consideration amongst women but at the same time, appeal to all our other existing and potential consumers. And the creative answer to this was simple yet impactful – ‘Long term relationship with OYO’ represented by a strong female protagonist – Neena Gupta, the metaphorical play on relationships and that all are welcome at OYO. We hope our consumers resonate with this campaign.”

Speaking on the campaign, Mayur Hola, Head of Global Brand – OYO Hotels & Homes said,“All of us who’ve been in a relationship know that we rely on women to make all the decisions. They just make better decisions. When we chatted 1:1 with our guests, women in particular, the same pattern applied to the room booking decision. This campaign simply and charmingly reflects that reality. Whether it is the same hotel and room that we see a high repeat usage of from our guests or indeed a bathing suit being picked or the decision to step out, Neena takes all the calls. As it is in real life, as it should be.

He adds,“OYO is for everyone and through this campaign, we want everyone to feel welcome at OYO, whether it is a family, groups of friends, a local entrepreneur travelling for business or even corporate travellers. This campaign isn’t just about couples. It’s about relationships in general. By leveraging a personality like Neena we’re looking to build affection and likability among all segments of travellers, own relationships of all kinds and let them know OYO stands for them all.”

Commenting on her role in the digital films, Neena Gupta said, “Times have changed so much from when I was a young woman making her way in the world. I was called fiercely independent and many other things. Today. women express their opinions at home, bring forward their perspectives to the table in a conference room, own their decisions wherever they go and it’s absolutely normal. When OYO shared their insights on women being the key decision-makers in a relationship and indeed for the final booking decision, and the concept of the films based on this, I could instantly relate to it. And was more than happy to be involved with this campaign. The simplicity of the films connected with my style. It was fun working with a woman director, having women writers on the team, and indeed filming with Swanand. Everyone will relate to this playful yet progressive campaign.”

Both, the concept of the campaign and script of the films were written by OYO’s in-house global brand team, with support from Oink Films on production. The film will go live across OYO’s digital channels (Google, GDN, YouTube), social media (Facebook, Instagram and Snapchat), CRM via push notifications and paid media assets including influencer engagement. Basis OYO’s consumer survey highlights, to ensure the campaign reaches its various target segments, OYO will roll out a unified view across 45+ OTTs & apps programmatically. This includes top platforms such as Inshorts, Sharechat, OTT platforms (Hotstar, MX Player, Sony Liv, Voot), music streaming apps (Gaana, Spotify, JioSaavn,) and dating apps (Tinder, Bumble, OkCupid). OYO will further amplify the films through an influencer campaign based on the theme #RishtaThodaKhiskaHai via a mix of celebrity and lifestyle influencers such as Smriti Khanna, Meeth Miri, Natasha Singh, and Siddhi MahaJankati, among others. 

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