The COVID-19 pandemic has jolted several countries into lockdown, with India implementing one of the world’s largest and stringent ones. As the country takes a step towards normalcy with each unlocking phase, people are excited to walk freely across the streets, visit salons, meet their family and friends after long and of course, turn up their engines and hit the roads, but with gallons of hand sanitizers, masks and gloves!
On the occasion of Independence Day, we took a unique twist on the concept of ‘celebrating freedom’ and thereby, launched our Road Trippin campaign under the larger theme #DekhoApnaDesh. As part of this campaign, we also joined forces with the country’s favourite men on the highway – Rocky & Mayur to inspire travellers itching to step out of their homes to put their cars in gear and head on exciting road trips across India, safely.
Under the first phase of this campaign, we released a digital film on Road Trippin, as a kickstarter to a full-fledged Vlog series, scheduled to be aired on the History TV18 channel from 28th August 2020. This fun series will feature Rocky & Mayur trail around the highways across the beautiful state of Rajasthan. On their course of the journey, the duo will be staying at OYO hotels across the state’s most scenic cities including Jaipur, Ajmer, Mount Abu, Chittorgarh, Udaipur, Bundi and Pushkar.
Watch below to see the film conceptualised by our in-house team and produced by Flying Elephants.
As you would have rightly understood, the film revolves around the aspirations of Indians to travel again after spending months under lockdown, safely through road trips while adhering to the necessary precautionary measures. It features the protagonist staring at his car, which has been lying in the parking lot for months together, while he has been sipping over endless cups of tea, waiting to head out of his home!
It subtly highlights the protagonists heading to an OYO Townhouse, where OYO’s on-ground staff follows safety protocols implemented through OYO’s ‘Sanitised Stays’ initiative. The film has a quirky Haryanvi narration (with English subtitles), with a folk lo-fi track composed by Shashwat Srivastava for an upcoming feature film, Ranj. Over the course of the next few days, we shall further promote the film and roll out a social media campaign.
Interestingly, OYO’s consumer use cases highlight that 56% of our consumers are inclined towards taking road trips as lockdowns ease across the country. Majority of our social audience also picked travelling by road as their top mode of commute. According to OYO’s internal survey results, 50% of Indians will choose to travel within a motorable distance of 200 kms or neighbouring towns/states. All in all, we recognise that consumer demand for inter-state road travel is high and thereby tapped into that demand with this Vlog series and a high impact influencer activation.
Commenting on the idea behind the film, Mayur Hola – Head of Global Brand, OYO Hotels & Homes said, “The stash of throwback pictures is exhausted. ‘Earth is healing’ and the ‘unicorns are back’ posts are passé. Jhadu-pocha, baking-cooking is now drudgery inc. Basically we’re all done here. With air travel taking a back seat in the near future, most of us want to hit the road and getaway. Many are doing so already. All our surveys are throwing up the same. So we hit up our old mates from the highway – Rocky & Mayur. Their brand and ours fit like a glove. RnM are hearty, unassuming, happy go lucky and indeed for everyone. As is OYO. We did a virtual jhappi-pappi and off we go on a journey that begins with this campaign. We’re all about creating engaging and relatable experiences for our consumers on-ground and online. With this we will highlight OYO’s Sanitised Stays in some swell properties and familiarise our guests with our partners & employees who stand ready to welcome everyone. Masks on, a gentle ‘Namaste’ over a firm handshake while maintaining high standards of sanitisation.”
“The Road Trippin has only just begun. Stay tuned for more.”
Recently, we also partnered with Unilever, the global consumer goods company, to enhance OYO’s ‘Sanitised Stays’ initiative with the help of Unilever’s leading home and personal hygiene brands which will be used in the cleaning and disinfecting of all our properties.
