From Zomato to Starbucks: brands parade the ‘friendship’ route

New Delhi: Friendship Day, commemorated on the first Sunday of each August, celebrates the surreal bonds of dosti. Be it the innocent childhood friendships formed over shared crayons; the fun school friendships that dabble between bunked classes, shared lunches, copied assignments, or mutual loathing for exams; the mature adulthood friendships blooming from the shared confusion towards life and its varied shades: friends are the family we choose for ourselves. 

This friendship day, brands have gone all out to capture the purity, craziness, and importance of such yaari in different films, capturing different aspects of this multifaceted bond. 

In this article, BestMediaInfo.com has captured the work done by GS Caltex, Starbucks, Parle G, The House of McDowell’s, Zomato, Apollo Pipes, and Wildstone. 

1. GS Caltex celebrates friendships through ‘thick and thin’

GS Caltex launched its third edition of Kixx Friendship Day campaign, '#KixxAllWaysWithYou.” The campaign features three one-minute digital videos, highlighting the loyalty of true friendship. 

Inspired by the tradition of friendship bands, the campaign presents stories of friends—Soham, Vikrant, Sandy, and Rohit—illustrating how friendships enrich our lives. The theme, "Dost jo na season dekhte hai na reason puchte hai, bas chal padhte hain to be always with you," aims to capture the spirit of true friendship.

The campaign has been conceptualised by Rajeev Dusa and Rishabh Shrivastava and team. 

2. Starbucks brews friendships over coffee

‘Starbucks + You,’ is based on the insight that partners in stores form integral bonds with their consumers. The  brand believes that by interacting with them on a daily basis, from knowing their order by heart to celebrating various milestones, they have created a sense of belonging together that goes beyond a transactional relationship. 

Going beyond remembering names, celebrating special occasions such as birthdays and promotions, Starbucks aimed to celebrate the power of simple gestures and is a reminder that sometimes, companionship and solace are brewed in the simplest of places.

Select Starbucks stores gifted Potli bags of signature Starbucks coffee beans to existing and new consumers. Partners (baristas) surprised consumers with handwritten notes of appreciation.  Messages on delivery cups such as ‘Thanks for making my ordinary special’, ‘Your smile always makes our mornings brighter’ were also delivered. 

As a gesture to extend their friendship to the customers, Starbucks Baristas have offered 30% off on short and tall beverages with a coupon, between August 1-18. 

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3. ‘Friendship’ wins over ‘Followers’ in Parle-G’s latest film

Parle G released its latest campaign celebrating Friendship Day. The brand’s tagline ‘Genius wohi, jo auron ke khushi mein paye apni khushi’ talks about the culture of companionship. 

The film follows the story of a group of friends, who are on the cusp of venturing into life after college. They rally around their one friend who needs a little cheer and encouragement before his campus interview.

What begins with light banter and friendly joshing soon takes a deeply personal turn as each friend realises that their road-trip can wait for another day, but perhaps their friendship cannot.  

4. The House of McDowell’s Soda unveils friendship anthem ‘Yaari Hai Imaan’

The House of McDowell’s Soda is bringing back the friendship song ‘Yaari Hai Imaan’ with an all-new rendition created by the rapper- Raftaar and Jasleen Royal. The song was released just in time for friendship day on Saregama Music YouTube channel. The track aims to be a tribute to friendship and celebrates the essence of Yaaron Waali Baat.

The song aims to portray the depth and loyalty that true friendships embody. The song aims to capture the essence of 'Yaaron Waali Baat' through its tunes, lyrics, and beats. 

The lyrics aim to emphasise that friendships open doors to possibilities. The song has been released on Saregama Music YouTube channel and is live across audio streaming apps. 

5. Bhuvan Bam and Zomato use the universal friendship language of ‘roasting’ 

Bhuvan Bam partnered with Zomato for a Friendship Day in-app campaign. The campaign, titled "Friendship Ki Band” allowed users to create videos for their friends, highlighting the quirks and traits that make their friendships special. The campaign plays on the dual meaning of band, indicating the friendships band that people exchange and the Hindi slang for "roasting.”

6. Apollo Pipes captures ‘Yeh Dosti Hum Nahi Thodenge’ feels

Apollo Pipes showcased a creative film, carving out the silhouette of two friends, lining their interior with pipes, aiming to capture the ‘yeh rishte rahe beasar’ (this bond remains the same) emotion of long-lasting friendships. 

The film captures the belief that however hard life gets, friends stick around unchanged, unfazed, to support each other with a shared grieving shoulder and shared hearty laughs. 

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7. Wildstone addresses the friendship ‘code’

In a creative static post on Instagram, Wildstone has captured the essence of friendship essentially being following bro ‘code’ or sis ‘code.’ 

The post is a play on the word ‘code’ which is also the name of the brand's product. The post is an almost 3D portrayal of two friends sharing a perfume as part of bro ‘code.’

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