How MX Player's #IdeaChor campaign for web series Thinkistan helped increase viewership by 230%

The last quarter of the year gone by saw MX Player and WATConsult create a stir among netizens and brands. MX Player became an #IdeaChor to promote the second season of its original series, ‘Thinkistan’, in the most unique way.

Released as a campaign, the brand team and the agency steered away from the traditional methods of advertising, tactfully and effectively employing Guerrilla marketing to garner some ground-breaking results. 

The content marketing activity enabled the show’s viewership to witness a phenomenal increase of 230%. Therefore, with exactly zero investment, the campaign was successful in registering earned media worth Rs 4.2 million, and a 225% growth in engagement across platforms. Not only that, but Thinkistan also trended as the number 1 show on MX Player during that phase.

Execution: One of the major themes of Thinkistan was ‘stealing of ideas’ in the advertising industry. This became the core for the campaign. The activity utilised various social media platforms to share content that was blatantly copied from other brands. 

The brands that are known for their unique visual content and those that were releasing topical and fresh content during that time frame were handpicked. The communication approach of brands like Amul, Zomato, Spotify, Netflix India, Amazon Prime Video India, etc., and even content creators like Chaibuoy and Akshar Pathak was copied to create content related to the show.

This, indeed, drew the attention of vigilante accounts such as Atul Khatri, Bollywood Gandu, Sagarcasm, Gabbar Singh, Trendulkar and regular users sniffing around for such unsavoury practices. The Twitterati along with other social media users subjected MX Player to a vicious tide of the #IdeaChor for two days straight, surpassing its usual attention span.

The internet called the brand #IdeaChor and trended the hashtag above the usual favourites for two days. After 48 hours from the launch of the campaign, the true intention behind this ‘theft’ of ideas was finally revealed. The brand shared something original in the end, pointing out what effect stealing ideas can have and that is what the show is talking about in its new season.

Abhishek Joshi

Abhishek Joshi, Head of Marketing and Business Partnerships, MX Player, said, “I believe that building a great campaign entails keeping our finger on the pulse of our consumer’s attitudes and preferences, while continuing to drive innovation. IdeaChor does just that; it resonates as a bold campaign with the right amount of quirk, theatre and pizzazz that wowed not only the netizens but also forced other brands to stand up and take notice.”

Heeru Dingra

Heeru Dingra, CEO, WATConsult, commented, “With digital constantly evolving, it is imperative to stand out to make an impact. By using the ‘Shock & Surprise’ strategy, we first shocked the audience with the misconduct and later surprised them with the truth, enabling the show to reap its benefits. Our impactful strategy led the campaign trend organically on the internet.”