Kingfisher, the acclaimed Indian beer brand, crossed a major milestone in their social media campaign last Friday: they acquired their millionth fan on Facebook. To celebrate, the United Breweries (UB) brand held a contest, giving away prizes to their massive online following.

The contest started Friday afternoon, and in just 3 hours they received an enormous response. The contest was simple: just log on to the contest page and click on the gift icon. Kingfisher gave away 5,000 prizes, which included Force India goodies, Kingfisher kits, Kingfisher beer, UCB sunglasses, football jerseys, limited edition Kingfisher calendars and screensavers, and a lot more. Within 5 minutes, they had given away over 200 goodies, and within the first hour 1,600 prizes were handed out. The immense response to their giveaway led to a second round, which was held the next day.

The promotional activity was a huge hit, and reveals the possibilities for liquor brands online. Liquor brands have famously been kept from advertising openly in India, but the online world offers an open forum for well-intentioned targeting.

But does this further burden parents steering their kids away from the hazards of the net? We're sure the free beer being given away would've required the proof of age, but should there be further monitoring of their fans?

 

Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.

 

-- Prerna Arora