MakeMyTrip.com’s quick tweet comeback is this week’s PR winner

 24th April 2014    Good and Bad PR 
 Paarul Chand

Good PR

MakeMyTrip.com and Twitter users take down Modi and BJP leaders a peg or two 

Social media proves that nothing is so sacred that it couldn’t do with a bit of fun. Especially when it comes to ego driven politicians. The Modi PR marketing drive has just over reached itself. Here’s what happened. 

Over the weekend, Bihar BJP leader Giriraj Singh, who is standing for election from Nawada said that “those who want to stop” BJP prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi will soon have “no place in India… because their place will be in Pakistan”.

No sooner had he said this when Twitter users began puncturing this ridiculous polarising statement. Followed by this absolutely brilliant witty brand PR by MakeMyTrip.com. Answering a cheeky enquiry about group tours to Pakistan, the online travel company had this to say:

 

In the early part of the week #ModiSendMeToPak , was among the top 5 India trends, with some truly hilarious tweets:

Giriraj Singh has since been banned from making any public speeches.

#ThatPepsiIntern creates an offline buzz with virtual fans for IPL

The only thing that excites Indians as much as the great election tamasha, is the great Indian IPL tamasha.

And like last time, official sponsor Pepsi is rolling out interesting campaigns to engage the IPL fans. Last season Pepsi created the #PepsiIPLLiveArt campaign inviting fans to send in witty tweets. The best were converted into posters which were also displayed during the telecast of matches.

This season Pepsi has created a campaign around #ThatPepsiIntern under which three IPL fans will be flown to the UAE, where the tournament is being held, where they will be responsible for tweeting about the matches and acting as IPL reporters. Another 12 fans will also be flown to the matches in India.

The campaign kicked off in early April with a teaser video featuring Bollywood star and Pepsi brand ambassador Ranbir Kapoor:

Soon the campaign ‘leaked’ the fact that Ranbir Kapoor had been sacked as the Pepsi Intern and new interns were being sought.

Currently, the campaign is at its peak with the first intern for UAE picked: 

The reporting has already started, with the first Pepsi intern upgrading fans to the Pepsi VIP box:

 

Simultaneously Pepsi also created a Twitter app, using the hashtag #PepsiInternSelfie  which automatically tags Pepsi when users tweet a selfie with a Pepsi.

Bad PR

Election Commission seeks tape of Pravin Togadia’s hate speech

VHP leader Pravin Togadia’s reported speech against Muslims living in so called ‘Hindu areas’ has attracted the attention of the Election Commission. The Commission has asked for a copy of Togadia’s speech in Bhavnagar.

Togadia has a track report of venomous communal speeches and such hate filled rhetoric will not go down well with a rapidly changing India.

It also pulls back Modi’s efforts to project himself as a development focused leader and not as a leader who stood by during the Gujarat riots. Togadia’s statements and others by Ramdas Kadam at a Shiv Sena rally for Modi, has prompted Modi to issue a tweet against such statements:

BCCI working committee member proposes 3 member Bollywood star team to probe match fixing!

Clearly some of the members of the BCCI are not very serious about probing match fixing. According to the Economic Times one of the members of the BCCI working committee proposed the names of Bollywood actors Preity Zinta, Kareena Kapoor Khan and Priyanka Chopra as a team for probing match fixing.

Perhaps, the unnamed working committee member is dreaming of a Charlie’s Angels style probe!

There is also the fact that Preity Zinta is part owner of Kings XI Punjab.

Doesn’t do much for showing that BCCI is serious about probing match fixing.

Have you seen any good and bad PR?

Write to Paarul Chand at paarul@prmoment.in or tweet @PaarulC or @PRmomentIndia throughout the week and we’ll happily credit you for your trouble.