Godrej’s Women’s Day campaign has a lesson for brands—be a voice, not an echo

Godrej's #SheForShe campaign for Women's Day | Photo: YouTube screengrab

Ahead of Women’s Day, Godrej Industries launched the #SheForShe campaign, aimed at celebrating the strength and solidarity among women from all walks of life.

The initiative, built around an exchange of heartfelt letters between women, emphasises the importance of supporting one another.

The black-and-white visuals, the close-up shots of the faces, and the beautifully written poetry create an impactful, moving narrative. The message is clear and compelling. 

No doubt, it’s an exceptional commercial for Women’s Day. But, it bears no real connection to the brand itself.

The buckshot approach

In today’s marketing world, brands often seize the opportunity presented by festivals and special occasions like Daughter’s Day, Valentine’s Day, and even lesser-known events to jump on the bandwagon and grab attention. The assumption is that by participating in these cultural moments, brands raise awareness and capture consumers’ attention. Whether such advertisements yield any impact on the brand is hard to tell.

From joining hashtag challenges to hopping on the latest meme trend, companies are eager to join every conversation possible. 

Well, Godrej isn’t alone in this. Cars24, an online marketplace for buying and selling used cars, also launched its Women’s Day campaign, ‘Park Your Bias’, this week.

The commercial, through a social experiment, reveals how people prefer male valets over female ones. Though the intent of challenging gender bias is commendable, once again the campaign lacks a clear connection to the brand.

This constant trend-hopping is defined as buckshot marketing, a strategy where a company casts a wide net by distributing its message across a variety of channels and to a broad audience. 

“Many B2C (business to consumer) companies have not done either enough research on their audience or they are allowing the algorithm to define when they should market and what they should market,” said veteran PR and communications professional Dilip Cherian, widely regarded as India’s ‘Image Guru’. 

As a result, they start buckshot marketing, which is “shooting everywhere,” he added. 

This leads to significant content wastage, with brands appearing across various platforms and events without creating any meaningful impact. Their message often goes unnoticed. From a consumer’s perspective, there is a constant fear of message overload.

Sniper strikes

Brands love trends because they offer instant engagement. 

The logic is simple: if people are talking about something, why not join in? 

But the issue arises when every brand starts saying the same thing in slightly different ways. The result? A wall of noise where no single voice stands out.

Take India’s cricket craze, for example. Whenever the Indian cricket team wins a significant match, brands ranging from car manufacturers to biscuit companies rush to post congratulatory messages. 

While the intention is harmless, the execution often feels predictable. When countless brands use similar messaging with only slight variations, none of them leave a lasting impression.

For Cherian, Doritos’ Super Bowl advertisements are the right example of how a brand can master a space and define the kind of content that belongs there. 

“Doritos has made it a tradition to incorporate humor in their ads, and their commercials are eagerly anticipated by everyone watching the Super Bowl. Therefore, there’s an expectation for Doritos to deliver a stand-out ad during the event,” he explained.

In India, Cherian has a particular favourite—Ola.

“Ola runs a series of marketing campaigns around Valentine’s Day and New Year. They could have chosen to do this around Diwali or Holi, but the risk of their message getting drowned out is higher during those times,” he said.

This is called sniper strikes.

Sniper strikes, as Cherian puts it, require patience, big budget, and precision in terms of who the brand is targeting and when. 

He said that the message has to be attached to three things—the audience, medium, and opportunity. 

“But, I always tell people, don’t try this at home. Leave it to an expert to do it,” Cherian added, highlighting how brands usually ask their in-house advertising team to take up the job. 

Brands should try to be a voice, not an echo. 

Consumers today are smarter than ever, and they can tell when a brand is being genuine and when it’s just riding a wave for clout. 

The brands that will win in the long run aren’t the ones chasing trends, they’re the ones setting them. 

Hence, both Godrej and Cars24 need to re-evaluate their timing.

Views are personal.

(Edited by Aamaan Alam Khan)