Unknown Cab Drivers & Rishta Aunties — A Recipe For Disaster?
Its a strange mix, really. How the world has progressed where people have strangers drive you around from point A to point B on a few clicks of a button. Its plain unsettling. I for one never was a fan of this concept, considering there have been countless horrendous anecdotes related with these relatively new cab-hailing services. Regardless, this is a completely different route reserved for a later discussion. I first wanted to touch base with the ‘rishta auntie’ gimmick that Careem has used, which is certainly making the round on the world wide web lately.
Lets address the elephant in the room. The viral facebook post worked beautifully and it achieved what it wanted to achieve through a term usually passed around as snide remark or as slight humor in conversations. This is at the heart of viral marketing. Pick a term that is common among us meme-consuming millennials, add in a bit of sugar, spice and finally a bit of edgy (read: controversial) humor. What you get is recipe that is bound to get publicity and spread across all corners of the border.
At first I actually thought, Careem is just fooling with people until I came across an article published by a ‘credible’ source claiming that actual middle aged and elderly women are accompanying cab drivers to pick up and converse with young folks like us, setting all the pre-requisites before the lady start searching for the ‘perfect’ soul mate. Now, this totally looks something out of a Nutty Professor movie. Its absurd and farcical! To say the least, it gave me a good laugh. Hitting the social media by storm which by now records over more than 100,000+ searches on Google and that too within the span of 24 hours. One cannot fathom the power of social media and the internet at this day and age.
The below charts are proof of how viral marketing is king in spreading awareness in different blocks of the country. I typed in three prominent words that were most likely used, on Google’s Keyword Comparison tool and the resulting are staggering. Reaching close to 100% index is the main object of the aforementioned form of marketing. As more searches occur, the credibility (or rank) of the company goes up in the web. In layman terms, Google does not look at whether the content is rubbish or inspirational as long as set guidelines are followed and more hits means more awareness; hence, viral.
The numbers never lie but opinion matters as well. My stance in this whole situation is that this is not a mark of genius. Using the ‘rishta auntie’ idea, unoriginal as it may seem but since Careem’s creative team has hit the jackpot, they might as well bask in this ephemeral glory, even though undeserved it may be. Its the people like you and I, profusely sharing, writing and posting content, making use of the intended buzzwords that basically carries the whole tidal wave to its destination.
By the way, a similar tactic was used by this very company not so long ago. I am sure most of the readers might remember Wasim Akram being announced as Careem’s CEO for a day. This got the internet crowd buzzing as well. One would even have the urge to scratch their head over how Pakistan cricket’s celebrated king of swing, suddenly decide to join the board members of a ride hailing service. Hate to be the buzzkill here but it was simply an an effective strategy to divert customers from Careem’s competitors such as Uber, Shahi Savari and the likes. The ‘honorary’ CEO took to Facebook to ask what what customers wanted. After rapid fire activity on their company page, the people got what they wanted, namely a price cut in their cab fares. The purpose was nonetheless achieved and on a good note.
The general crowd actually praised how well the latter idea was executed. Laughable it may seem from the outside, we should be a little empathetic as far as using ‘rishta auntie’ in a stereotypical sense is concerned. Reality being, there are actual people belonging to underprivileged families who make their whole livelihood out of match making and having known a couple of individuals who do, its as gruelling as a job with higher risk. Its a painstaking task that has direct impact on the life of another individual for whom the match is being sought out for. A bad match means the match-maker loses their honor and integrity in the eyes of the ‘customers’. This is just a tip of the iceberg with worse cases being filed and chronicled on news paper from time to time.
Whether we like the marketing or despise it from the utter core of our hearts, the purpose of marketing is going to be achieved anyways. We are consumers of this very thing that help create the hype and take it forward in our social circles. Thus, the cliche holds true that “Any form of publicity is good publicity” and this is only a revelation of what is to come from more newly established companies.
I write stories using a unique blend of humor, realism with a bit of technology in between.
