Mumbai: The Indian shopping experience is unlike that of anywhere else in the world. We’re wildly different in terms of our approach, but the bottom line remains the same. We only want the best price and we’ll go to great lengths for it. Reaching the ‘perfect’ price in Indian market places has a special skill to thank, one that’s been passed down for generations – bargaining. And as Indian shopping moves away from the streets, and onto the internet, this unadulterated joy of haggling for your price isn’t as common.
It’s in this lost art of bargaining that Flipkart, Dentsu Webchutney and Google saw an opportunity to bring back for this year’s edition of The Big Billion Days. The voice based campaign, Big Billion Days ka Boss is the first-ever experience on Google Assistant that allows customers to set the offer prices on products during sale event.
Flipkart’s Big Billion Days ka Boss is a rich and immersive voice based experience on the Google Assistant that allows you to barter, haggle and negotiate the best deal possible on feature products for all of India ahead of the The Big Billion Days sale.
Commenting on the activity, P.G. Aditiya, Executive Creative Director of Dentsu Webchutney, said, “We wanted nothing in this experience to be born out of imagination. Our team researched popular markets across India to understand every possible way in which the bargaining process works. We recorded hours of footage, and things you would actually hear from a shopkeeper were simulated in the experience. So can you can talk to Assistant the way you’d speak with a storekeeper. Big Billion Days ka boss is the boldest step in so far by a brand, investing in the power of voice experiences, to engage with the Indian masses.”
Gene Brutty, Creative Director, Google ZOO, Tokyo said: “Creating an experience that immerses people into a haggling scenario requires a lot of scripting, testing and refining. And to deliver a project that pushes the expectations of a platform like Assistant requires close collaboration with our agency and brand partners- Flipkart, Dentsu Webhutney and Codroit. To develop a new and exciting voice experience around the Big Billion Days sale that shows how brands can go beyond ‘functional chatbots’. The system also supports voice and text based conversational interfaces making it a more visual and fluid experience.”
How does one become the Big Billion Days ka Boss? Just open up the Google Assistant app on your phone and say ‘Talk to Flipkart’. Once you’re in, choose a product of the day and try to convince Assistant to give you the lowest possible price by engaging in a fun haggle. If you manage to set the lowest price on a product, then that’s the price India pays for it during the Big Billion Days.
“For us at Flipkart, The Big Billion Days is not just a sale. It is a brand in itself. It is the biggest retail phenomenon that this country has ever seen. Tech-based Innovation is one of the key pillars for us where we go beyond just advertising to integrate with the content that people consume. As our intent is to set the benchmark for the marketing fraternity w.r.t how campaigns are designed, planned and executed, Bring alive the Ideas that are Disruptive, Unique and Scalable. This is exactly what our partnership with Zoo is all about which we hope will create massive engagement and buzz for the event.” said Kunal Dubey Director – Brand Marketing, Head – Media planning & Buying, Flipkart.
Flipkart’s Big Billion Days can be experienced by long press of the home button to open up the Google Assistant app, and by saying ‘Talk to Flipkart’.
