It’s challenging to gain the attention of people in today’s fast-moving world.

Agree?

In all honesty, yes, it’s true!

But, when there is a will, there is a way.

People still pay attention to things that are worthy of it

People like the stuff that wows them,

They even share it with others

So as brands, give people a reason to talk about you

And watch your brand name spread like fire

What must have started as an innovative approach towards marketing as one company’s CSR has taken the upwards flight on the wings of imagination, powered by the people’s verdict by making it viral on social media platforms…

Advertising is no longer what it used to be. Changing times call for change in action. After subtle advertising, manipulative advertising, blatant advertising, now it’s all about emotional advertising. 

Something that moves you from within is working like a win-win for both the manufacturing fraternity and the consumer. They bank on that incredible feeling of good karma to support a cause. Coming with campaigns focused on humane issues allows brands to touch people’s hearts. People’s participation in popularising such campaigns is like having both sides of the bread buttered.

Let’s take a quick look at a few companies that have nailed such campaigns.

LUX: #Breast Awareness Campaign by LUX

Early detection is of paramount importance in any cancer treatment. Addressing this issue, Lux came up with an awareness campaign by manufacturing soaps with an extra lump on them. So every time the lady used the soap, it reminded her – early screening could help in timely detection and save her life. Nothing could be more satisfying to the company when surveys showed the percentages of early detection going up post-campaign.

 The company did not put up the soaps on their retail chain but distributed them in various awareness campaigns held across the country. So instead, the company focused on gaining mileage in brand popularity, brand visibility, brand loyalty. As a result, Lux came across as a brand that’s concerned about its consumers’ health. The campaign touched people so much that its echo was heard across the country, carrying the brand name everywhere. Lux, no more, is a brand that’s just endorsed by cine stars.

Source: Wundermanthompson

HP Lubricants: #RoadsThatHonk

Road rages and accidents are the banes of every society. And, a company a coming up with feasible solutions is welcomed with open arms. ‘HP Lubricants’ wanted to do something to avoid accidents on deadly hairpin bends in Jammu Srinagar Highway.  

The idea is that accidents are avoidable, and we should do something practical using science and technology. This resulted in the installation of Smart life poles (using radar technology)  having sensors that use electromagnetic waves to gauge the speeding vehicles on both sides of the road of a hairpin bend. Whenever there are vehicles on both sides, it sends a signal with an led light and a horn that warns the drivers of both vehicles to be more vigilant.

Based on the principle that humans instinctively react to sound, the company came up with this innovative solution which has resulted in 45% lesser accidents saving a massive number of human lives. What started as an agency innovation became a global conversation on road safety! Not only are the smart poles being installed in three other states, but also the National Authority of India is in talks with road authorities of Saudi Arabia and Nepal for installations! 

Source: HP Lubricants

Savlon: Savlon Swastha India Mission – #HealthyHandsChalkSticks

Innovation is in the DNA of Savlon as a company. It came up with a non-stinging antiseptic at a time when every other available antiseptic in the market used to sting (give a burning sensation) on the application on open wounds. Decades later, yet again, they were able to grab the common man’s attention by coming up with a novel and attractive approach to hand hygiene. Their focus this time was on poor hand hygiene resulting in the death of children in rural areas. They brainstormed and came up with a unique solution that not only grabbed the attention of the kids but elders alike but showed the public at large that even something as mundane as washing hands could become a fun activity! 

They infused chalk sticks with soap, and so, the school-going kids using chalk sticks and slate. Instead of being reminded time and again to wash their hands before eating food looked forward to washing their hands and see the chalk powder sticking to their hands turn to soap and wash off all the germs along with the dirt. Who says being hygienic couldn’t be fun! This created interest in much more than their target audience, and the company enjoyed market penetration in new cities. So the company literally washed out the dirt and brought in the moolah!

Source: Ogilvy

Berger Paints: #Berger Truckart Childart 

Every parent dreams not only for himself but for the bright future of his offspring. But what if that very apple of your eye is rudely snatched from your life all of a sudden, leaving a void so large that most parents hardly ever recover.

 A company that helps you paint your dream house came up with an innovative twist to paint hope in the lives of those very parents whose children had gone missing.

In Pakistan, it’s in the culture to have some form of graffiti with a message and or faces of famous personalities painted on the back and sides of trucks. Berger Paints came up with the idea to paint the faces of the missing children instead, on these trucks that constantly travelled from one place to another. An excellent and highly effective media campaign. Because the likelihood of finding a missing child in the same locality has a slim chance, but the idea of having trucks that travel far and wide display the faces of these kids drove up the chances of finding them.

Many children were found and returned to their parents. Thus the company helped in solving a heinous crime. They also got blessings and well wishes from thankful parents. The takeaway for the company being, not only more brand visibility, but it was now also known as a company with a heart.

Source: Berger Paints Pakistan

BrewDog Forest: Sustainable Entrepreneurship

First Negative Carbon Beer Company

After rampant disregard for nature in industrialization’s blind race, we are now left with highly dwindled forest cover and holes in the ozone layer! So it is heartening to see companies finally wake up to the looming threat and taking proactive steps. One such company is the BrewDog beer company that bought 2050 acres of land in the Scottish Highlands and planned to plant one million trees to restore 650 acres of peatland and increase the green cover. 

Meanwhile, they are funding four carbon removal projects. They consciously opted for green energy options and use wind power. Also, they have an anaerobic digester bio plant. In short, the company is trying to reduce its carbon footprint by a combination of different activities. They performed calculations taking into consideration all these activities. They came up with a negative carbon figure that they successfully used as a USP as the first carbon negative company in the field. As a result, the company earned an environmentally conscious name and amended for whatever harm they might have caused due to their operations. They set the inspiration for other companies to follow suit. If we put our mind to it, we can undo the harm done so far. By far, industrialization’s most important contribution is that everyone needs to correct the imbalance created in the ecosystem.

Source: Forbes

MasterCard: Virtual Prepaid Cards

With Expiry Matching The Predicted Year Of Extinction Of The Endangered Species

Money cannot buy everything. For everything else, there is Mastercard. A catchy tagline that stayed with not only their users but everyone who heard it. MasterCard came up with more eco-friendly material for some of its prepaid cards with the added novelty of supporting organizations that work to prevent wildlife extinction. 

As all prepaid cards have an expiry date, they came up with the brilliant idea of matching these timelines with the predicted year of extinction of certain wildlife species, thereby bringing the reality of the threat to the forefront. So every time their users bought these cards, part of the proceeds would go to specific organizations working towards saving these species to survive the death date. Their cards also carried pictures of the particular animal, making the cards more attractive. The card reminded them these animals will disappear if we do nothing NOW.

By a simple step, the company came to be known as an ecosystem caring company, not just humans, but wildlife also matters. They also replaced plastic with eco-friendly materials—their way of moving towards a more sustainable environment for all. The company gave its users the satisfaction of protecting endangered wildlife species from being wiped off the face of the Earth.

Source: Master Card

Thai Airways: #Thai Stay Home Miles Exchange

Mobility is the backbone of Globalisation. The world has come closer thanks to Aviation Industry. And with the stiff competition, it is imperative to come up with ideas to retain customers. The frequent flyer program was one such incentive for ensuring brand loyalty. The more you fly, the more miles you amass.

With the pandemic striking, the whole aviation industry was grounded. The losses were unimaginable. They turned a dire situation to their advantage by hatching the best advertising stunt by remaining in the focus even when not operating. They combined a sense of patriotism along with the chance to be a responsible citizen.

Staying indoors being the only possible solution to contain the pandemic from spreading, they used it as a tool to reward their customers with miles – only this time – not for flying but for staying indoors! Ingenious indeed!

Turning isolation into rewards proved rewarding for the customers who stayed indoors and helped Thai Airways portray itself as the responsible national carrier. They got 37,230 registered users who were awarded a whopping 809,152 miles during the campaign period and logged a total of 3,236,608 hours spent indoors. 

The company succeeded in remaining in focus while grounded and gave hope to their grounded customers that they would be flying again soon enough. Thai Airways sure drew out a lot of mileage from giving out miles with a smile without even flying a mile!

Source: Thai Airways

BRAND	PRODUCT	TARGET CONSUMER	PAIN-POINT	ACTIVITY	INSPIRATION	PERFORMANCE
LUX	Soap Bar	Women	Once every 4 minutes, a woman in India  detected with breast cancer	Innovatively shaped Soap with a lump to remind women to go for timely checkups	Creatively changing the shape of the soap	The percentage of early detection went up post-campaign
HP Lubricants	Smart life poles	Road drivers	Loss of life on blind spots in hairpin bends on Jammu Srinagar Highway	Installation of smart life poles on both sides of the bend to alert drivers on both sides by honking	Application of radar technology to save lives	Reduced 45% of road accidents and started a global conversation on road safety
Savlon	Savlon Healthy hands chalk sticks	Parents in rural areas	Death due to poor hand hygiene	Distribution of Savlon healthy hands chalk sticks in rural areas	Innovative chalks that are infused with soap and clean just like soap on contact with water	Improved hand hygiene leading to lower mortality rates in villages across the country
Berger Paints	Truckart child finder	Parents	3000 kids going missing annually in Pakistan	Painting faces of the missing children on the back of trucks	Uniting a lost child with his parents	The campaign resulted in many missing children finding their way back home
BrewDog Forest	Beer	Adults	High carbon footprint leading to drastic climatic changes	Sufficient Afforestation to overcome the carbon footprint of the company	Sustainable Entrepreneurship for a brighter, cleaner, greener tomorrow	More generation of Oxygen and elimination of carbon dioxide making the planet safer
Mastercard	Virtual Prepaid cards	All prepaid card users	Animals on the brink of extinction	Using the year of extinction as the year of validity of the card	Linking the years brought to the forefront the looming future where these species could well be absent if we did nothing  now	Wildlife Conservation
Thai Airways	Special App	Frequent Flyers of Thai Airways	Everyone was grounded, and no airlines were operational the world over	Rewarding miles for staying at home	Lucrative incentive to stay indoors and thereby avoid the spread	3,236,608 hours spent indoors by 37,230 people

 

Let’s Sum it Up:

These companies have been able to bring about a change in the lives of the people they touched. So can you. They could be the first, and you certainly aren’t the last. You only have to find that niche in between, where you can instate yourself for years to come. 

One doesn’t need an unlimited budget to work wonders, nor unending resources. But, what you do need, is a boundless imagination and the heart to bring about change using the available resources resourcefully!

The pandemic has changed the lives of everyone forever. The people have to take a relook at their lives. So campaigns that could have been a success two years back might now have to do a retake. You need to brainstorm on what are the attributes of your particular product and in which way can you achieve multiple aims – 

• giving a world-class product
• giving something the consumer finds unique in your product
• gaining an edge on competitors 
• leaving the consumer with a feel-good factor
• increasing brand value
• increasing brand visibility
• maintaining brand loyalty
• working within budget
• contributing towards a more sustainable future
• satisfaction of having made a positive change, however minute, in the lives of people.

So it’s time to come up with that perfect campaign that will level up your brand and make you the talk of the town!

We are more than happy to brainstorm it with you. So block our calendar for a quick chat now.

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