“More than 1600 times the ROI.” Apart from the intangible benefits. In this era where people prefer digital marketing campaign without trying to understand deeply what is marketing concept or the nature of marketing, the following marketing strategy was an absolute killer!
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One of the greatest marketing campaign plan that I have come across, which had a really wide reach was the “Lifebuoy Roti Campaign”. It was an ideal campaign. It had a proper motive, well defined target segment, planned out expense, expected ROI & results.
‘Did you wash your hands with Lifebuoy?' That was the message, in Hindi, stamped on over 2.5 million Rotis(Indian Bread) at the Maha Kumbh Mela in 2013, the largest congregation of human beings on our planet. Roti is an important and mandatory item of every complete Indian meal. And the only way to eat it is with your hands.
Lifebuoy is a soap. To increase it’s sale, the strategy team thought of flashing a message about how important Lifebuoy soap is and how indispensably it is connected to your daily hygiene. Poor hygiene kills approximately 1.5 million children/ people worldwide every year. It is imperative to wash your hands before meals, especially if you are going to use your hands, fingers and not spoon while eating. In India the only way you can eat Roti(round bread) comfortably is by using your hands, splitting the Roti into 4–5 parts and dipping it in dal(pulses) or sabji(vegetable with gravy).
Lifebuoy is a soap. To increase it’s sale, the strategy team thought of flashing a message about how important Lifebuoy soap is and how indispensably it is connected to your daily hygiene. Poor hygiene kills approximately 1.5 million children/ people worldwide every year. It is imperative to wash your hands before meals, especially if you are going to use your hands, fingers and not spoon while eating. In India the only way you can eat Roti(round bread) comfortably is by using your hands, splitting the Roti into 4–5 parts and dipping it in dal(pulses) or sabji(vegetable with gravy).
The target segment ascertained was the common man whose daily meal comprised of the above[Roti, Dal, Sabji] with Roti being the indispensable element in the meal.
To give the entire campaign in a nutshell- Through an investment of US $ 36,000 (over Rs 20 lakh at an exchange rate of Rs 60 to a dollar) and appointing over 100 promoters at the several community kitchens, 2.5 million rotis were heat stamped with the message, ‘Lifebuoy se haath dhoye kya’ (Have you washed your hands with Lifebuoy?), prompting people to wash their hands before eating. The campaign, executed at a cost of less than 1 cent per contact, earned the brand a media value of over 60 million USD, which is more than 1,600 times RoI. Overall, the brand received sales of 40 dollars for every one dollar spent on the campaign.
Check out the heat stamps…
The Kumbh Mela which was scheduled to start from January 2013 at PrayagRaj was chosen as the place & time where implementation of this plan was supposed to take place. In the Kumbh Mela an estimated 200 million+ devotees gather over a period of approx 2 months. At PrayagRaj Kumbh, which holds the world record for the segregation of maximum number of devotees at one place, this marketing campaign was executed.
The Kumbh Mela which was scheduled to start from January 2013 at PrayagRaj was chosen as the place & time where implementation of this plan was supposed to take place. In the Kumbh Mela an estimated 200 million+ devotees gather over a period of approx 2 months. At PrayagRaj Kumbh, which holds the world record for the segregation of maximum number of devotees at one place, this marketing campaign was executed.
The unusual advertising medium certainly had pilgrims noticing it and discussing it during and after meals. A buzz was created.
The campaign started on February 1 and ran for 30 days. They took into consideration the factual scenario that a minimum of 2 people share a lunch table. This is apart from the seating arrangement on the ground as shown…
The company made special heat stamps to make an impression of its message on Rotis and hired 100 promoters to stand in 100 kitchens across the Kumbh mela.
The company made special heat stamps to make an impression of its message on Rotis and hired 100 promoters to stand in 100 kitchens across the Kumbh mela.
The idea came from the insight that handwashing with soap before eating can prevent transmission of many disease causing germs. But people often ignore/forget to wash their hands before eating.
A reminder at the right time can go a long way to ensure that this habit is followed.
Thus as stated above, every one from the common man to the marketing, media, government agency professionals among others, took notice and appreciated it. It received a lot of positive word of mouth publicity at that time because of the crowd of magnanimous proportion.
It was an absolute and instant hit!
It was taken up as case study in many prestigious MBA colleges in that very year and continues to be a well known case study even now which glorifies the clutter breaking idea of this astonishingly unique, simple and cost effective marketing campaign.
This campaign generated more than 1600 times ROI, as was measured at that time. This is apart from the intangible long term benefits accrued.
This has to be one of the best marketing campaigns ever.
The choice of the location(Kumbh Mela which would have a humongous population)for the execution of this marketing campaign was impeccable.
