Iodex and Goodknight engage 20 lakh in Pandharpur

India Brand Equity Foundation (IBEF) suggests that the fast moving consumer goods sector in rural and semi-urban India is estimated to cross US$ 20 billion by 2018 and US$ 100 billion by 2025. As a result more brand custodians and marketing specialists are eyeing rural India to expand their market share and churn profits.

However, establishing a brand in rural India is easier said than done. Most brands and experiential agencies often fail miserably trying to find the perfect fit that world work in emerging markets. But even though the successful marketing stories in the rural market are rare, they are in fact path breaking campaigns that are paving the way for others to follow.

Dedicated to lord Vitthal, the eight centuries old Pandharpur Yatra in Maharastra travels from Alandi to Pandharpur and witnesses the attendance of over 15-20 lakh devotees year-on-year. To complete their ‘Darshan’, the devotees famously known as Varkaris participate in the Waari for twenty one days to cover 250 kms to reach the final destination in Pandharpur.

Vritti i-Media shouldered the responsibility of conceptualizing and executing engagement campaigns for Good Knight Fast Card and Iodex in the same yatra. In an exclusive conversation with BW APPLAUSE, Rajesh Radhakrishnan, Director- Marketing Strategies and Public relations at Vritti i-Media, shares how the pilgrims were engaged by both brands.

Good Knight Fast Card campaign

Good Knight wanted to introduce and thoroughly educate rural consumers of Maharashtra about its innovative and cost-effective mosquito repellant – Advanced Fast Card. The brand wanted to create a mass awareness campaign and reach maximum households through individual engagement activities and demonstration processes to help consumers understand the usefulness of the product.

To meet the requirements Vriiti i-Media designed and conceptualized an engaging audio communication campaign called the, ‘Jingle Walla Bus Stand.’ As part of the campaign, devotees travelling to Pandharpur from 30 bus stations were guided about the bus schedules and were welcomed through public announcement systems accompanied with the informative fast card jingles. The Audio campaign was released a month before the main Ashadi Ekadashi to build some initial momentum and to create some anticipation about the product.

Passengers were also asked to dial a toll free number and listen to unlimited Vitthal Bhajan free anywhere and anytime. During the break between Bhajans, Goodknight Fastcard audio jingles were played.

The highlight of the campaign, however, was the Sriphal Arpan Rath. Good Knight started an activity in Mumbai and other important pilgrimages across western Maharashtra and Marathwada regions, wherein two Good Knight Fastcard branded vehicles travelled around Siddhivinayak Temple in Prabhadevi and other important locations across Maharashtra for about 20 days. These vehicles called as the Sriphal Arpan Rath encouraged devotees to offer their coconuts to lord Vitthal.  The idea was to reach out to people who were not able to participate in the Yatra and help them send in their prayers / offerings to lord Vitthal at the city of Pandharpur via the Sriphal Arpan Rath.

Interestingly, the gestures of the devotees were acknowledged by sending SMS conformations after receiving the coconut and then after offering it to the Lord. Through this engagement the brand collected approximately 12,000 coconuts from various parts of Maharashtra.

To ensure health safety standards during the yatra Good Knight had set-up moving emergency vans. These vans were located through the entire route till Pandharpur and catered to issues such as fever, diarrhea amongst others and provided the Varkaris with free of cost treatment on the spot. For serious treatments, pilgrims were guided to the nearest clinics and assisted with the necessary treatment.

Facilities of clean drinking water across strategic were also provided. Also branded setups were erected near the pilgrimage to enable short stays for the devotees.

The overall impact of the campaign was huge for the brand. Several devotees who had not heard or read about Good Knight Fast card were seen raving about it at the end of the Waari. The brand through the campaign touched 15 lakh people and scored high on recall value. Sales of the product were also positively affected throughout Maharashtra as a result of the campaign.

Iodex campaign

Iodex has recently launched a new campaign with the singular positioning on being the balm for all types of body pains.  The Pandharpur Yatra was a perfect synergistic opportunity to activate the brand and create strong preference in Maharashtra market.

“While setting up a massage service or doing sampling during such pilgrimages is a commonly explored idea in the past by many pain relief brands but to make this activation innovative and more effective we decided to plan this activation in 3 stages wherein through different touch points and different media vehicles, the brand reached out to the consumers at different moments of truth in their pain journey”-says Rajesh Radhakrishnan.

Step One: Activating Pre Pain

State transport buses were one of the most popular modes of transport for most of the pilgrims to reach Pandharpur from different parts of Maharashtra. The very thought of an 8 hour plus journey in a state transport bus would give shivers down the spine for many who suffer from back pain.  To activate at this stage Vritti i-Media used the public announcement system at the 80 plus bus stands across Maharashtra to send out catchy & contextual brand messages to consumers. An estimated 64 Lacs consumer were reached out with this activity.

Step Two: During Pain

Iodex branded vans with 12 promoters accompanied the human procession for 21 days to ensure that their journey continued without any difficulty by setting up massage tents at periodic intervals during day and night. Over 20,000+ Varkaris visited these massage shelters and benefitted from the facilities.

Happy with the service provided at the massage centre, one Varkari said, “I have been participating in this Waari (pilgrimage) from five years and walk about 250 kms every year. My body does give me a lot of pain throughout the journey but, my belief in the almighty and devotion towards the Waari motivates me each year. However, this year my pain was treated at the right time. Thanks to team Iodex, I got the best massage at their centre which helped me get refreshed and start my return journey reenergized.”

Step Three: Pain post the journey

It was observed that the pilgrims usually rest at the public convenience mutts after their journey is over. Across all these Mutts, Vritti team had set up an Iodex Massage camp to further provide a relaxing and rejuvenating massage experience before the pilgrims could commence their return journey.

At this final leg, the consumers were also exposed to a strong ambient media branding of Iodex through contextual outdoor advertising at bus stands and mutts in Pandharpur and given a sample of an Iodex pack to drive trial for the product.

Also, at this final leg, Mobile medium was used innovatively to geo-target the transit pilgrims who had come in from other towns to Pandharpur during the seven days of the festival. After having exposed the consumers contextually at different touch points with the Iodex brand message, the mobile communication was used to conclude the engagement with consumers with an affirmative call to action that reinforced the key message of the activation – “Badan ke har dard ke liye, sirf Iodex” (For Every Pain in the Body, Only Iodex). Over 1 lac consumers were reached out to with this geo-targeted mobile engagement.

This multi-touch point based activation helped Iodex reach over 2 million consumers in Maharashtra and also enabled the brand to Increase in spontaneous awareness by 5%, Increase value sales by 30% and Increase market share by 1% in the state.