Chrome Communications - Case Study - The Silent Auction Pop-Up

BACKGROUND

Mumbai. The fashion capital of India, also known as, the social cultural shock

factor of India. Where style and attitude is embed in everyone. Fashion designers

are plenty and individual fashion sense is resolute and authoritative. Two distinct

perspectives and plenty opportunities subsist together. Both are dreamers and

opportunists. We call them designers and buyers.

DESIGNERS BUYERS

How to approach the market Where to get new and creative products to

match their individual sensibilities

How to understand what their market

wants

Where to get what they want within their

budget

MATCH MAKING

It began with an idea: Creating a common ground for designers and buyers to establish

a conducive market. Thus began preparations for a conceptualized flea market – The

Silent Auction Pop Up.

The way it worked: Normally at a pop up event, if you like a product being sold you can

either buy it at the price it’s sold or move ahead without the product if it doesn’t fit in your

budget.

At the Silent Auction Pop Up, you have another option. BID for it.

At the end of the day the designers would review the bids they received. The decision to

accept the bid price on every item was completely dependent on the designer. If the

price quoted was agreeable, the bidder would be contacted and asked to collect their

bid item for the quoted price.

FAIR GAME

In general at an auction the product is already besought and the bidding starts from a

minimum price. In contrast, at the Silent Auction Pop up, the designers selling their

products are new entries in the market. They are looking for exposure and a sales outlet -

which can be bought at a price. But what’s more is that in The Silent Auction Pop Up they

would be able to get a better understanding of their product design in relation to the

potential markets ability to purchase.

On first thought the concept seems to be highly prejudiced towards the customers. If you

don’t want to pay the asking price, BID and you could possibly get what you want at the

price you want. But the seller may not agree to the price quoted. Hence the customer is

taking a chance at getting the desired product at the desired price. Or missing out on

the product completely.

Digital Marketing : Facebook

PROMOTIONS : CHARACTER POSTS

Character posts were used to convey the unusual concept of the pop up event to the public.



These character posts were quirky

and eye catching. They introduced

the idea that something unique and

fun was going to happen soon! And

it involved shopping which was an

important determinant of the TG.



The event host partner – Please

Don’t Tell was well known in the

Food and Beverage arena and

was the perfect location for the

event to happen. The venue was promoted through these

catchy character posts


Tie up : cabzo

Free cab rides: The Silent Auction Pop Up tied up

with Cabzo to provide people with

free cab rides to the event. Cabzo,

a new ‘call a taxi’ app offered The

Silent Auction Pop Up 100 free taxi

rides from anywhere in Mumbai to the event.

Reach Likes Comments Shares

1086 28 28 8

The tie up with Cabzo had a 65% success rate


Tie up : kingfisher

All 100 free Kingfisher beers were ‘sold out’

The first 100 shoppers who purchased any items totalling for

minimum 1000/- was given a free beer.

The strategy was to promote ‘at the event’ shopping.

The strategy is also aligned with the observation that the more time

you keep a prospective buyer at the place of sales, the more likely it

is they will make a purchase.

Therefore there are more chances that the person would make

another purchase or that a friend of the person would pick up an

item that they were contemplating.

In general, the Shopping and Beer combination is a perfect pull strategy to get people to the event. From the point of view of the customer – there are no losses on this one!


Promotions : boyfriend day care

‘Nothing should come in between of you and shopping. The Boyfriend Day Care Centre at

The Silent Auction Pop-Up. We will keep him entertained, while you shop!’

Weekends are meant for family and boyfriends. But shopping is equally important. Today women are multi taskers. The Silent Auction Pop Up was all out to help women multi task by

providing entertainment for those boyfriends who cared enough to take their girlfriends

shopping. (Plus the free beer also helped the decision to join in on this event!)

All Fun and Games


Promotions : boyfriend day care

Boyfriend Day Care saw high engagement

on social media owing to the unique

concept. More than the extra offerings

under this strategy, it seemed to be the

terminology ‘Boyfriend day care’ that intrigued people.

It proved to be beneficial in terms of gaining

exposure for the event.

Reach Likes Comments Shares

2629 91 8 20

The Boyfriend Day Care was a big hit. The organizers were approached

To curate the same at many other events aswell.

Digital Marketing : Instagram

Style partner : the style edge - santushi shetty

The Style Edge – Santushi Shetty

The Silent Auction Pop Up tied up with the

Style Edge – Santushi who has a following of

60k+ on Instagram.

Awareness of the event to a market that trusts social media over print media were targeted through Instagram tie ups

Santushi – The Style Edge |

Instagram

5 Posts at the event 1600 likes per post on

average

1 Post after the event 1297 likes

Digital Marketing : Instagram

Style partner : the fashion trumpet

The Fashion Trumpet Another Instagram tie up was with the Fashion Trumpet who has a

following of 15.5k followers

Awareness of the event to a market that trusts social media over print media were targeted through Instagram tie ups

Print media coverage

HTC Café – 16th May

Mumbai Mirror – 16th May

Afternoon – 15th May

actfaqs.com – 15th May

thedailypao.com – 15th May

Asian Age – 14th May

Midday – 10th May | 12th May

The After Party

From the total number of people who placed bids at the event, 30% were approached post

the event to purchase the item for the bid price.

The participants were happy with the response they got from the event. The theme of the

event promoted a high engaging - interactive atmosphere resulting in good sales at the event

itself as well.

Please Don’t Tell – The venue partner gained exposure in the process, and the ‘free beer’

promotion only added to its sales as people ordered more beer and bites once seated.

The event got a lot of exposure due to its unique concept. The organizing team is today

thinking of more innovative strategies to add to the concept of a flea market, where designers

and buyers can both benefit mutually. Where events are made more holistic in terms of

offering and thus gain a wider reach and introduce relating activities to newer markets – (Cross

selling)

Event turnout