Was the Ambani Wedding a Genius strategy or just a Show of Extravagance? : Marketing Case study

hi everybody the ambanis just had a blast with perhaps the most expensive wedding in Indian history ex Trant wedding of anani it's a wedding unlike anything we've seen [Music] before and while the entire nation is trying to contemplate the scale and opulence of the Manis there are two schools of contrasting thoughts that have emerged all across the country while on one side there is a segment that believes that it is a complete waste of money and the immanis are setting the wrong example you have wealth but yeah we get it you have wealth that's it like just don't need to show off that much they're doing way too much I think now they're just showing off on the other side there is just absolute appreciation and astonishment for the sheer scale and opulence of the wedding because they see it as a testament to the Indian ambition and achievement the opulent wedding of the son of India's richest man Asia's richest man Asia's richest man richest man is throwing his youngest son a lavish wedding in Mumbai from Bollywood stars to FIFA bosses to Tony Blair to Boris Johnson the umani wedding has brought them all together it's a wedding so massive so Mega even the warm-up events with the Royals to sh thanks to the family I am here tonight but you know what guys while most people see this event as just another wedding what they often forget is that this wedding is giving India an insane power advantage and if replicated by all billionair it could boost our exports and save thousands of crores in taxpayers money seems difficult right well guess what the British press has actually used their Royal Wedding as a carefully crafted marketing strategy for decades great steart of Scotland has finally chosen his bride she is Lady Diana Spencer and their engagement is the news Britain has been waiting for by 8:00 police estimated 900,000 people were already out in central London I Diana Francis take the Charles George myed husband and into the afternoon sunshine there came Prince Charles and the new Princess of Wales smiling and looking wonderfully relaxed look at these numbers in 2011 the American Super Bowl was viewed by 111 million people whereas The Royal Wedding of Kate Middleton and Prince Harry was viewed by 160 million people in 2018 while the FIFA World Cup final was viewed by 1. 1 billion people The Royal Wedding of Megan and Prince Harry was viewed by 1. 9 billion people so these events aren't just fairy tales they are billion dollar marketing campaigns that have brought immense benefits to the UK economy and this is because of a strange power that a country acquired which the Harvard Professor Joseph NY defines as soft power so the question is what is this concept of soft power how is this Amani wedding in any way associated with boosting Indian exports how did the Royals of UK create a billion dollar return using these weddings and most importantly what are the lessons that India needs to learn from this iconic marketing strategy before we move on let me thank our partners ODU for supporting our content people Odo is an all-in-one management software that provides a range of applications that help businesses simplify their day-to-day management tasks with 12 plus million users worldwide Odo is a One-Stop solution to cover all your business requirements so if you're someone who is curious about ODU then on 23rd and 24th of August ODU is hosting ODU Community Days this will be India's biggest Tech business event at Mahatma Mand Convention Center in Gandhi nagar so whether you are familiar with ODU or just curious to learn more this event will allow you to connect collaborate and expand your network you can meet the ODU team Global Partners and the industry leaders in an inspiring atmosphere of innovation inspiring talks and Unforgettable moments there will be 100 exhibitors and over 150 plus inspiring sessions where you can ask questions about a project or see guidance on business growth and the best part is that you can register and attend this event for free so don't miss out on This Global Summit because this is a great opportunity to Network and have some fun with live concerts dinner and refreshing mocktails so if this sounds exciting to you secure a free spot today from the link in the description to understand the importance of the Amani wedding we first need to understand the meaning of something called Soft power and hard power hard power is when a country uses its military might economic might or political influence to control or benefit from a country the best example for this is China and Pakistan in the past few years if you've seen China China first used its debt trap strategy to give unreasonable loans worth $26.

5 billion to Pakistan and then they used their economic might to give contracts to Chinese Builders with Chinese workers and eventually they used their military might to take control of the guad port in Pakistan the Pakistan cabinet has transferred the operations responsibility of the godar port from Singapore to China China is exploiting developing economy the pla Navy is the largest in terms of numbers of surfice ships and vessels now the Chinese policy in Africa is often described as a dead trap experts say it is a part of a deliberate strategy to loan unmanageable sum sums to African countries similarly us invaded Iraq in 2003 using its military might to exercise control over Iraq and this is exactly what Russia is doing to Ukraine this is what you call as hard power but if you look at soft power it is a method to influence a country not with military might but with appeal and culture and the best example of soft power is the rise of South Korea the success of the South Korean film parasite just named best picture at the Oscars is expected to give another boost to the Korean wave squid game squid game squid game a gory dystopian Thriller on track to be the most watched streaming sensation ever bts's last concer in Soul created nearly as much economic gains as the pungang Winter Olympics in early 2018 you see back in the early 2000s South Korea was largely known for its cars and smartphones and this is because of Hyundai and Samsung but today when I mention South Korea most people think of K-pop BTS South Korean beauty products and Squid games and do you realize none of these entities were popular 5 years back so the question is suddenly how did this transition happen and how is it helping South Korea become more powerful well this transformation started in 1994 when President Kim was told that the movie Jurassic Park generated as much revenue as the export of 1. 5 million Hyundai cars I repeat the movie Jurassic Park generated as much revenue as the export of 1. 5 million Hundai cars and the reason why Jurassic Park did so well all across the world was because they had a very strong foundation of the American movie Industries distribution as well as the American cultural influence all across the world and that is when the government of South Korea realized that the exporting of culture and influence is very very important and the best part is you don't need an army budget or an expensive Factory to have this cultural influence over other countries so the South Korean government introduced special policies to support export focused cultural Industries for example they expanded their budget for cultural industry from 14 million in 1998 to $84 million in 2001 and they increased subsidies for several cultural startups across the country so soon enough South Korea started exporting content to the world in the form of Music drama series and movies and this is where we saw the rise of K-pop drama and the world famous music band which we all know today as BTS and with the rise of these content pieces that hit the right cord with the audience four crazy things happened for South Korea number one the South Korean drama and movies fascinated the people around the world so much that tourism to South Korea started spiking if you see this chart the arrivals of tourists in South Korea shot up from 8.

8 million in 2010 to 17. 5 million in 2019 this resulted into billions of dollars of economic output for South Korea number two South Korean exports began to rise by billions of dollars in fact if you see this chart the South Korean skincare cosmetic exports has exploded from $320 million in 2011 to $3. 82 billion in 2023 Korea's outbound shipments of Cosmetics reached $2.

3 billion US in q1 this year which is a surge by almost 22% from the same quarter last year as well as the year before when the figure stood at 1. 9 billion K entertainment as well has played a key role in popularizing Korean culture around the world that the demand for Korean beauty products or K Beauty continues to rise and the the reason why it sh up so much is because the K-pop movies and series have fascinated people with their beautiful skin and when you see the macro picture it's even crazier the boy band BTS alone has generated $ 3. 67 billion for the South Korean economy and it has resulted into a job creation for 8,000 people this is the combined impact of BTS alone on exports consumption and tourism similarly Netflix is now planning to invest $2.

5 billion into just South Korean projects and the global K-pop Beauty Market is projected to be worth $18. 32 billion by 2030 and last and most importantly while countries like India are worried about brain train South Korea is witnessing brain gain whereby people from all around the world are coming to South Korea to study if you don't believe me look at this chart if you look at the number of people appearing for topic which is like their version of toel you will see that the number of people taking the test has increased from 106,000 in 2010 to 375,000 in 2019 so while we are losing the smartest people in the country to brain drain South Korea is able to attract Talent which first spends money on education gets a job and then pays taxes to the South Korean economy this is how South Korea has used its soft power to extract a billion dollar output without military mind and without an economic might they've done that merely by exporting culture and appeal all across the world this is what you call as soft power now the question over here is soft power is practiced by a country that is fine but how can soft power be developed with a single wedding and why do I say that all billionaires in India must celebrate their wedding with the same opulence as that of the monies well that is because ladies and Gentlemen The Royal Wedding of UK has actually laid out a billion doll Playbook on how to use a wedding to generate a billion doll output for the GDP and here's where the magical stat that I told you comes into play so in 2011 while the climax of the American Super Bowl was viewed by 111 million people the Kate Milton wedding was watched by 72 million people on YouTube alone and 160 million people in total similarly in 2018 while the final of the FIFA World Cup was viewed by 1. 1 billion people the Megan Markel wedding was seen by 1.

9 billion people so practically oneir of the entire world watched The Royal Wedding of Prince Harry and Megan so now the question is so what if 1. 9 billion people are watching this how can this generate an economic output for the country well that is because ladies and gentlemen just like our influencers set a fashion trend in India Kate mlon Princess Diana and Megan Markel are the most OG influencers in the world because of the British press and just like you see hundreds of reels on what Anand is wearing and what radika is wearing the British press obsessively covered every aspect of the Royals because of which they became a sensation all across the world and every piece of content on them became an instrument of marketing and this insane amplification gave the Royals three major superpowers number one the Royals were able to spike the sales of the British products all across the world and anything and everything that they wore became a fashion sensation eventually resulting into a million dooll sale for example when Kate Middleton wore a blue Isa dress on her engagement in less than 24 hours the dress was sold out across multiple countries not just in UK but in multiple countries and look at this chart after she wore the Russell and Bromley knee high boats the sales jumped by 6. 63% the sales of George new hoser increased by 500% and 300 people were in the waiting list for a 300b black coat and this was because Kate wore it to a wedding and in general whatever the Royals wore the sales of those products shot up by 600 to 700% this is the first superpower that the Royals have which is their ability to shoot up the popularity of British Brands all across the world at the same time they can also make foreign Brands extremely popular in the UK this is the reason why the Newsweek says that the Kate effect is worth1 billion pound to the UK fashion industry secondly the Royals used their soft power in the UK to spread awareness about those issues that were often overlooked in the UK and this is where the Royals PR came in very handy until then everyone assumed that the royal families are supposed to be absolutely perfect but in the early 1990s Princess Diana gave out a series of interviews about her mental health and publicly spoke about her condition of bulimia Eating Disorders whether it be anorexia or bulimia show how an individual can turn the nourishment of the body into a painful attack on themselves yes people are dying from eating disorders but with help and patient nurturing people suffering from eating disorders can find a better way of coping with their lives similarly in the mid 80s AIDS had terrified the world because of a lack of understanding as well as misinformation acquired immune deficiency syndrome or Aids started as an exclusively gay disease this depression of the immune system can lead to a rare form of cancer capaces saroma which shows up at those purplish spots this cancer has a death rate of 80% 2 years after diagnosis AIDS also causes unusual infections with death rates of 100% in 2 years Princess Diana opened an AIDS unit at London middle sex hospital and while most people isolated AIDS patients with the belief that someone could catch HIV through touch Princess Diana shook the hand of a man suffering with AIDS without gloves in front of the world media and this made headlines all across the world and it revolutionized the facilities for AIDS all across the world today the hospital reckoned that the princess's visit was worth all the government propaganda put together she met the staff and the nine patients and shook hands with the mall and you know what guys even after her death her public donations were amounting to more than $100 million and this money was used to support the social causes that princes d stood by such was the contribution and Legacy of the legendary Princess Diana and last and most importantly as the British press Amplified the lifestyle of the Royals documentaries were made the Netflix series Crown even today is a massive hit worldwide and all of these contents put together they enhanced the perception of UK to such an extent that today UK attracts tourists from all across the world and this is what results into top of- the- mind marketing and same is the case with UK also when you see the lifestyle of these people when you see the pictures being clicked which look absolutely beautiful almost like a scenery out of a drawing book automatically you tend to assume that the entire UK is as beautiful as that picture in this case if you see the tourism to these Royal places Winder Castle was the most popular Royal Estate location in the UK and it almost recorded 1.

1 million paid visitors between April 22 and March 23 similarly millions of students flocked to UK for education because they believe that the lifestyle in UK is absolutely aspirational very comforting and the entire UK looks like a lush green garden and if you see this number a staggering figure of 67990 international students came to the UK in 2022 alone and just like the students in South Korea even these students from all across the world flock to the UK they pay for education and eventually they get a job and contribute to the UK economy with both consumption and taxes so so long story short because of this aspirational value building a country can attract both tourists and students from all across the world eventually it could result into a billion dollar economic output and these students just like in South Korea they come to UK they pay for education and eventually they contribute to the UK economy both with consumption and taxes this is the benefit of soft power through media publicity if this is very very clear to you let's come to the ambanis and see why the Ambani should do even more publicity which could drastically increase India's soft power and Goodwill all across the world firstly the ambanis are playing a major role in promoting the richness of Indian culture Indian cusin and Indian dresses all across the world and the reason why every billionaire must happily promote our culture is because we already have a very strong Indian cusine ecosystem all across the world my favorite is always the chicken T Masala what's your favorite foreign food to eat on tour I like Indian California has the largest Indian population in the US which means we get some of the tastiest Indian food there is for example did you know that the national food of England is actually chicken tikka and back in 2012 on a weekly basis 2.