MarketingVirDas'comedyspecialInsideOut
Vir Das: Inside Out — a lockdown crowd-work special
I have been raving about you and Harshith to Rosh(an) and Rohit. Would rehire in a heartbeat, and will definitely be recommending you to others. You guys have been absolute professionals. You should be really proud of the heart you bring and what you've built.
Rakshita
COO, Weirdass Comedy
About the client
Emmy-nominated actor and comedian Vir Das doesn't need a long introduction, so we will keep it short. As an actor he's known for movies like Delhi Belly (2011) and Go Goa Gone (2013), and is set to star in a Judd Apatow film next. As a comedian, he's performed over 100 stand-up shows, eight TV shows and six comedy specials — one of which we were involved with in a not-insignificant way. He's supported by his team at Weirdass Comedy, who we collaborated with closely on our project.
First contact
In July 2020, his team at Weirdass Comedy reached out for help with marketing his comedy special Inside Out. A novelty concept borne out of the lockdown, it consisted of close to 30 paid online shows wherein Vir would interact directly with the audience. All proceeds were donated towards Covid-relief work. At the time we were approached, the show was only going to be live for 10 days — and the Netflix special it is now known as was not in the offing.
/ Target
15,000 purchases at ₹30 each
Budget: ₹3 Lakh
/ Timeline
- Pre-launch: 15 days
- Live campaign: 10 days
- Extended campaign: 6 days
Results
11,281
Ticket sales
₹35L
Raised for Covid relief
60%
Sales via paid marketing
The success of the campaign and the show itself helped it get picked up by Netflix and released as Vir Das: Outside In in December of the same year.
Approach
We worked closely with the team at Weirdass Comedy, consulting them on the infrastructure they were going to build. Originally, they planned to tie up with a ticketing partner but we advised against it — relying on our own infrastructure would grant far more flexibility with targeting and data analytics, and hence, bring far better results.
We helped the team construct a landing page to direct traffic from the ads. We ran campaigns across Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, Google and Reddit, and guided the Weirdass team on the messaging routes based on the types of audiences we planned to target. As part of the campaign, we created an Instagram filter that had Vir asking people what they were looking forward to doing after the lockdown.
Over the course of the campaign, we constantly monitored the ads with heavy audience listening to tweak and optimise for maximum results. Our target age group was 18–34 — a group that comprised over 70% of website visitors and drove around 80% of total sales. Around 21% of visitors returned to the website to complete a purchase, accounting for roughly 78% of total sales.
Credits
Vir Das credited The Small Business Project as the digital marketing agency on Inside Out. Team members: Rachit Hegde, Harshith Bangera and Maria Mustafa.
