Rifat Islam
An advertisement made by amateur people with the slogan “better quality at lesser price” for an unknown furniture shop Kakoli Furniture at Mawna in Gazipur went viral on social media and thousands of people began trolling it.
Such mockery of people, however, turned boon to the once unknown entity raising its sales in the past one month as people rushed to the outlet for both purchasing furniture and feeding their curiosity.
The video, featuring weird acting of a prospective customer couple and their two children with chanting of the slogan, also went viral in Indian state of West Bengal and many people from there contacted the owners of Kakoli Furniture and the enterprise has announced to open an outlet in Kolkata.
Netizens, angry with many social issues, related the slogan “Daame Kam, Maane bhalo” with their everyday issues. Senior West Bengal politician Kakali Ghosh Dastidar also fell victim to such trolling.
Indian sport journalists on a Facebook post shared by the Bangladesh Cricket Board announcing Bangladesh-India series demanded tables from Kakoli Furniture in the press box.
Talking about the story behind the advertisement, Kakoli Furniture proprietor SM Sohel Rana said that he was brainstorming for a long to flourish the family business and made the advertisement on his own.
Rana’s father Haji Abul Kashem initiated the venture 20 years ago with a small timber shop and named it after his daughter. Ten years ago, he turned it into a furniture showroom. Now they have three showrooms — the main one at Mawna Chowrasta, one at Bhaluka in Mymensingh, and another one at Dhopakhola in Mymensingh city.
An ambitious Sohel Rana is now eyeing to open an outlet in Kolkata.
The advertisement was first posted on Facebook on April 9 and since then 1.5 million people viewed it, 43 thousand people shared it, 27 thousand people commented on it, and one lakh 28 thousand people reacted to it.
“I came from a humble background. I made this advertisement on my own. Of course, it is full of errors but it emerged as a blessing for me. My sales increased by more than 20 per cent and it is increasing drastically,” said Sohel Rana.
Advertising gurus are also analysing people’s response to the unprofessionally made social media content.
Syed Gousul Alam Shaon, Managing Partner and Creative Chief at advertisement firm Grey Dhaka, said that the target audience of the enterprise was people who want better product at a cheap price.
Those who are trolling the advertisement and making fun are not from the advertiser’s target audience, he said.
About the quality of the advertisement, Gousul said, "The scientific, strategic method that we opt for creating an advertisement with a lot of research and analysis should not to be expected from them. And the long-term reputation of any organisation determines whether its products are of really good quality. It cannot be judged by a flashy slogan."
"Anyone with a smartphone is becoming a content creator. Most of those contents are of low quality. On the other hand, it won't be just to control or censor this content by imposing law, because it might deprive us of some good content," Gousul said.
