Digital marketing, both as a discipline and practice, have given a reality check to brands that their relationship with the consumers is not purely based on transaction. With IoT and a connected global market, brands have been able to see the scale at which consumers are evolving and how they are more interested in experiences that resonates with their personal preferences. This has been a moment of truth which led brands to take into account the things that inspires their customers the most in a digital landscape. They realized that almost 95% of the global audience spend 90% of their time on some or the other digital mediums and most of the time they look for content which are related to real-time happenings or events.

With viral marketing gaining momentum through social media channels, this realization gave birth to a completely new concept known as ‘moment marketing’. Whether it’s a social issue, viral trend on Instagram and tik tok or a national phenomenon, moment marketing took brands out of the closet and brought them closer to a much wider audience. This trend has given brands the power to give voice to their marketing, making it more empathetic, connected and relevant for the masses.

Campaigns by Amul Butter are fine examples of this trend. Though the brand was ahead of its time and realized before the advent of internet, they have wisely used moment marketing to their advantage. Whether its showing solidarity during a national crisis or celebrating India’s win at the cricket world cup, they mastered moment marketing to resonate with the deeper feelings of consumers.

But this gives rise to a bigger question – Is moment marketing necessary for every brand. While there is no clear cut ‘Yes’ or ‘No’, the answer depends greatly on the brand positioning and persona. While Amul has discovered its way, its not necessary that brands blindly follow a trend just to gain mileage. Though it may make them ‘viral’ for a short period time, they will eventually lose credibility if the rationale behind the campaign is not in sync with their value system and is forced. This has been observed in few recent instances where some brands have forcefully tried to fit in their brand message with the viral ‘Pawri ho rahi hai’ trend. Though for some it garnered great responses, some brands seemed lame and their credibility went down to a certain degree.

Moment marketing is a vehicle which is on the exploration mode and brands irrespective of industries are trying to make something out of it. While it’s okay to ride on to it, campaigns which have a deeper message will drive sustainable results when mixed with this new exciting possibility known as ‘moment marketing’