When it comes to families that live off-grid, the problem of media reach is glaringly evident. But such absence of conventional forms of media and communication opens the door to real creativity and effective targeting. One such innovative integrated rural campaign, Jagmag Utsav, won the hearts of people in more than 1096 locations, across 6 states, with its local flavour and great consumer insight. What’s more? It was also bestowed upon the title of “Sales Promotion Campaign of the Year” by Rural Marketing Association of India Flame Awards 2018.
The campaign aimed to educate rural households about the importance of using high-quality solar products over inferior alternatives. It was divided into 3 phases — Build-up, Launch, and Follow-on. Different mediums were used for each stage to communicate and engage with households.
The objective was to get the channel partners, field staff and households abuzz with anticipation for Jagmag Utsav. So we leveraged the one media that most rural households have access to — mobile phones. Over 13.9 lakh voice blasts and 5.2 lakh SMS blasts were sent. This was coupled with email communication, Whatsapp, spreading of word-of-mouth through field staff, and the branding of 1455 key village spots and channel partner outlets.
Nukkad Natak: The main attraction was a 20-minute long humorous street play, Prem-Leela, that revolved around Prem, the husband looking for the perfect anniversary gift for his wife Leela. Other characters include a local retailer and Munshiji, an influencer. The play addressed the insights — a. in the retail channel, the ultimate buyer is the man, however, the woman plays an important role in decision-making b. customers rely on retailer recommendation when purchasing a product. An element of humor was used to drive across the message of choosing high-quality over low-quality solar products.
Product demonstrations: Product demonstrations were given by promoters and our own field staff to promote the lucky draw contest, generate leads and drive sales.
Puzzles: For women self-help groups, a fun competition solving jigsaw puzzles was conducted to engage and reinforce the key message.
Free recharge offer: To measure the effectiveness of the activation, we leveraged a free recharge offer. Audience was asked to give missed call on a toll-free number and they would get an automated callback. They had to answer a multiple choice question, and lucky winners could win free mobile recharge. The question was aimed at reinforcing the key message ‘Yellow = Quality = Sun King”. This resulted in 67% respondents giving correct answers and associating Sun King with quality.
Now it was time to make sure Jagmag Utsav has an ever-lasting effect on people’s minds. We created 7 audio stories with 7 different themes for 7 days with the objective to truly edutain, build positive associations, and create recall for Sun King. A sales promo offer and PR activities further created a ripple effect.
Sales promo offer
A lucky draw contest was organized with 400+ prizes to be won. All they had to do was follow 3 simple steps — a. Purchase a Sun King product, b. Locate the 13-digit product serial number, c. SMS the serial number to 9945123456.
PR
A regional press conference was conducted to amplify the reach. The campaign was covered by 18 publications including leading dailies like Dainik Jagran, Dainik Bhaskar, The Telegraph, registering over 61 lakh impressions.
Oh, the milestones we achieved!
The campaign received an overwhelming response from consumers and channel partners alike, engaging over 14 lakh consumers over a span of 2 months. Over 41000 missed calls were registered and the campaign generated 9816 hot leads and even led to the acquisition of a strategic partner.
Sales performance: The sales figures in the given territories witnessed a growth of over 53% over the last year same period.
Instead of relying on mainstream media, we spoke their language. We used their modes of entertainment, spoke where they hear, and showed where they see.