Gen Z cringes when the language, memes and cultural cues that feel like their own are picked up and overused by everyone. Brands have long been using words like rizz, cooked and no cap to seem relatable to this audience. But in creative hands that becomes a Gen Z drawcard for McCann India’s campaign for Flipkart. They’ve flipped the trope on its head, recognising Gen Z’s frustration and channelling it into the idea itself.

The film shows a series of everyday situations where people and businesses awkwardly force Gen Z slang into places where it clearly doesn’t belong. Gen Z viewers are rewarded by watching their generation cringe.

It then introduces the cleverest part of the campaign – AreYouReallyGenZ.com, only functional on a phone, of course. Users have to pass tests to prove they’re really Gen Z to unlock the Flipkart offers for them in its biggest annual online shopping festival, Big Billion Days (BBD). The site takes familiar CAPTCHA formats and turns them into tests of Gen Z culture, fashion, beauty and internet behaviour. Only after clearing all three steps do users unlock exclusive Big Billion Days offers on Flipkart’s fashion and beauty trends.

Gagandeep Bindra and Rahul Arcot, group creative directors, McCann India, stated, “In a world where everyone’s trying to talk, dress and breathe like Gen Z, we wanted to give the actual Gen Zs something only they can experience. So we built AreYouReallyGenZ.com, a place with curated, flex-worthy pieces from fashion and beauty. Protected by some seriously tough Gen Z-inspired Captchas. Would it be enough to keep Gen Z copycats out? We took the test, it did.”

The campaign is running across digital and social through the Big Billion Days sale period, starting October 9.

Credits
Creative Agency: McCann India
Creative Team: Rahul Mathew, Gagandeep Bindra, Rahul Arcot, Bhavini Trikha, Kajol Jeswani, Drishti Garg, Tanmay Raul, Akash Mejari, Tejas Patil, Dhiraj Palav, Nikhil Kamble
Account Team: Hari Krishnan, Monideepa Nandi, Shweta Goyal, Kashish Bachani, Sankalp Grover

Production Company: SUPRVLLN films
Director: Chalees Chor