Amazon Devices wanted to amplify the reach of Alexa’s first Celebrity voice announcement and create interest in experiencing voice technology innovation in India. The challenge was to find a celebrity whose voice is recognizable, relevant across the country, and creates a positive emotion among audiences. Additionally, the launch was scheduled to post the second wave of the pandemic, making it crucial to ensure that the messaging was sensitive to everything going on while reaching the right audience.
Strategy:
Our PR plan for the Amazon Devices launch was centered around Amitabh Bachchan’s reassuring voice, aiming to provide a comforting and delightful experience to people in the comfort of their homes. We identified Tier II cities with higher Alexa penetration and a keen interest in Mr. Bachchan as our key markets. To ensure maximum reach, we constantly monitored sentiment related to Mr. Bachchan to determine the ideal date for the celebrity voice skill rollout.
Our PR plan utilized owned, earned, paid, and social media to achieve maximum exposure. We employed strategic media relations to drive core messaging and curated content for leading lifestyle and entertainment publications to increase awareness. Influencer engagement was also a significant component of our strategy, aiming to generate the most reach and awareness. We associated individual influencers with showcasing voice skill capabilities and utilized cutting-edge content and communication design to deliver impactful messages and drive customer interest.
Results:
As a result, our PR plan generated a total of 514 media stories and around 5.5 billion impressions across all PR-led activities. Our embargo thought leadership interviews with Manoj Sindhwani, Vice President of Alexa Speech at Amazon, and Puneesh Kumar, Country Leader for Alexa, Amazon India, resulted in two in-depth articles in leading publications The Times of India and NDTV Gadgets 360, focusing on innovations in voice technology and AI. The national press release announcing the launch, along with our behind-the-scenes video, garnered stories across newswires, mainlines, technology, entertainment, and online portals.
Our regional release issued in the shortlisted Tier 2 cities received more than 150 articles in print by key Tier 1 and Tier 2 publications like The Times of India, Dainik Jagran, Dainik Bhaskar, The Echo of India, News Today, and Pioneer. Influencer engagement generated over 1 million impressions and a reach of over 16,000 on Instagram Story. Our engagement with 10 YouTubers from tech and entertainment beats resulted in more than 600K views, while our engagement with Tech Boss, Tamil tech Influencer, Sameera Reddy, Smriti Khanna, parenting influencers, and RJ Karishma, Hamid Barkzi, Gen Y/Z influencers resulted in close to 1M impressions.
