FabAlley: Shock and Awe

What is the one thing that makes you share a video? Although there is no right answer, the closest one would be: a video that makes you sit up and take notice. Ecommerce portal FabAlley.com, which is betting big on in its latest campaign, uses shock value to arouse that interest.

Comedian Radhika Vaz features in the campaign created by Jack In The Box Worldwide. Vaz delivers a monologue where she questions fashion trends, their uses and then lets out a rant against conforming to fashion norms. Her call to action is to 'Unfollow'.

"The strategic objective of this campaign is to give a voice and a personality to FabAlley, especially considering that most e-com startups only focus on discounting or transactional methods," says Abhishek Razdan, executive vice president and national business head, Jack in the Box Worldwide.

But is it not ironical that a fashion-clothing brand's communication features no clothes? The revolt, according to Malik, is not against fashion, but against following fashion blindly. Claiming your own individuality is what the brand wants 'followers' to do. And in that quest for fashion and personal style, FabAlley promises that it has the clothes to dress them up. The shorter videos, to follow soon, will see Vaz dressed in FabAlley clothes, where she questions other manufactured and propagated fashion norms.

Is shocking people the correct strategy for the first campaign of an e-com site? According to Razdan it has worked quite well. "The conversations that the campaign has generated is testimony to the fact people are getting emotionally evolved. With the first video, we wanted to deliver the message that for looking - or feeling - good, retaining your individuality is paramount. Radhika not wearing clothes is a powerful representation of that," Razdan adds.

The shock factor is certainly not going unnoticed. OR Radhakrishnan, ECD, Enormous Brands finds the method interesting and feels it has all the ingredients to go viral.

The campaign will be focused on digital, but will also see some spillover on print (in fashion magazines and select dailies).