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Brief
Shri ram Fertilisers & Chemicals (SFC) has been a dominant brand in northern India with a loyal base of customers and a proven record of well-performing products. One of them is Shriram Super Phosphate(SSP). SSP is present in Maharashtra for a while except for the western region which is an acclaimed region for horticulture. On the account of irregularity on the supply front, the retail presence was unsteady in those areas. As a result, traders, distributors & dealers were hesitant.
On the end user’s front, Phosphate being the most generic yet essential nutrient was by default in dispensible and a must-use product for farmers. But no marketing efforts were put in till now. This time with renewed focus, SFC has come up with a new operational plant in the same region to serve the market better in the long run.
The brief was to embark upon a marketing initiative that develops the market afresh and builds confidence amongst all the stakeholders for the company and brand. Our telephonic survey paved the way for us to believe that SSP was an apt proposition at par with what farmers expect.
The only challenge was to stand out from the clutter and gain a foothold for Shriram Super Phosphate. Besides, traders and farmers were to be convinced about SFC’s commitment to serving Maharashtra for the long term and be seen as a company of national repute bringing years of experience to benefit farmers.
Objectives
- To establish SFC as one of the leading company of today’s time and SSP as a promising product with an assurance of uninterrupted supply from the new plant
- To take the brand to end-users and convince them of the overall proposition.
- To build hype and hysteria around the brand amongst all the stakeholders Creative Route was “KaroShriram Super ka Irada” Shriram as a name comes with a promise of being credible and performing super phosphate delivering on the expectations. Karo Shriram SSP ka Irada captures the prevailing sentiment and expectations. Moreover, the taken route defies competition & presents a credible option to farmers.
Concept
Our strategic understanding of the product and market led us to identify the market segments and their media preferences. Involvement of all the customer/consumer segments such as distributors, retailers, progressive farmers & farmers at the village level was at the core of the chalked out concept backed by the right timing and touchpoint/place.
In addition to this, compelling product messages across each chosen media overridden by the right communication strategy of Karo SSP Ka Irada turned out to be the force behind the campaign and integration.
Activity
The conceptualization was transformed beautifully into cohesive action. Having clarity on the scope of integration for the job in hand, Ascent zeroed down on the judicious mix of the activities/media that later became the very reason for success.[/vc_column_text][vc_column_text]
Product relaunch & plant visit
It was a 3 days long affair having plant visit on the third day culminating into a gala night which marked the unveiling of the product. Day one was a welcome day more of an informal get together as distributors came from different places. The event actually took shape from the day two.
Since we had access to all the distributors at single place, an engagement was apt to lighten up the mood and spirit. Tambola was planned, popularly known as housie, to hammer the key messages that make up campaign proposition. The night ended with folk dance lavani, as a resounding entertainment followed by dinners/cocktails. Our third day started little early and set out for plan visit with 3 mini buses on service accompanied by lunch at the site. Evening saw the product unveiling in a thrilling, mesmerizing way. Also the being the last
day, it was an occasion for the company to talk about business.
Kisan chetna rally
A baton flagged off from Ratnagiri plant to client exchanging hands with progressive farmers from target villages before culminating back to the same place. The idea behind rally was to trigger word of mouth by involving progressive farmers and other farmers alike. It pretty much served the purpose and managed news paper coverage as well.
Retailer Meet in Bus
For those trade partners who were not part of the product unveiling and plant visit. We cracked an idea of “Plant on wheel”. The interiors of the bus were tweaked to have a good sitting arrangement. The side wall/panel was used for exhibition of plant photos, processes etc.
Retailer Branding
A total of 580 outlets were shortlisted. Out of this a total of 100 were premium ones having all the branding inputs. Others entitled for select inputs. The whole job from production to installation was turned in 15 days. Branding input included dealer board, inflated dangler, LD foam banner & paper weight.
Focused Farmer Activation
Under this initiative we reached out to farmers to have a more focused engagement with them. As before developing any inclination for our brand they needed to spend some time with the brand. Thus, getting hold of them in their own village helped to achieve the same.
It was possible because the schematic engagement was put in place. The schematic engagement first paved the way for Shriram SSP by engaging farmers upon the criteria to decide about any phosphate brand. Then we presented them with a newly operational plant to have access to a Shriram product. This gave a local touch to the brand.
The next level aimed at putting ”Karo Shriram SSP kaIrada” into action. The content of engagement established our product basis on certain USP’s that farmers look forward to while buying SSP.
Our engagement required farmers to bang on a punch pad with intensity and the hitting would swing the needle on the console from bottom to top.The winners were the ones who swung it fully.
Amplification and Scale (pre and post activity)
Not only did we bring back the SSPon tongue during the campaign propelled by timeliness of the entire integrated endeavour but also renewed the interest of all stakeholders. In this sense, the campaign marked the perfect beginning.
A personal designer invite was delivered to the attendant.
Our product re-launch & plant visit sow the genesis in terms of securing the support of distributor and dealers. During these 3 days long exercise, a total of 125 distributors and dealers enthusiastically participated. The company officialstoo had their agenda in place in terms of company/product orientation, trade scheme disclosure etc.
Distributors and dealers spread their network through retailers and aligning them with the activity was imperative. Retailer meet in busproved to be the right medium. It reached out to 643 retailers from 6 target districts over the period of 30 days. In a day, our team covered 4-5 tambola rounds and of 1.5 hours each.
Before embarking on to activate farmers in the key villages, a context was to be set up. For that, wall painting in the tune of 1 lakh across these 6 districts was done in record time of 25 days. Farmers started taking heed of our efforts which resulted in some enquiry at retail outlets.Side by side the retail branding initiative was being undertaken so that when farmers walk into retail outlets they get an inkling of some happening. Retailers too promoted the company and brand.
Time was good to initiate a mass connect and mobilize those interested farmers. Kisan Chetna Rally proved to be the right step in that direction.
It was kick started from the plant with much funfair and press release in all leading Marathi newspapers which had set the tone for rest of the day. It prolonged over 40 days and reached out to close to 400 villages. Kisan Chetan Rally was a caravan of two vehicles. One went an hour before and the next followed it. This way, the participants were ready to receive the baton henceforth there was enough crowd for baton rally.
Kisan Chetna Rally also provided the opportunity to engage key target group such as opinion leaders and progressive farmers who were the first ones to hold the baton. All of it ended with a vote of thanks to every participant by Anchor and the rally then moved to the next village.
Kisan Chetna Rally heightened the frenzy and buzz in the market and to make most of it we were ready with our next roll out, Focus farmer activation. In Kisan Chetna Rally, we did not have the opportunity to have one on one interaction with farmers. Focus farmer activation allowed having a quality time with farmers. This was 30days long van activation with a reach of 266 villages.
Results
This campaign was one of the best and most memorable ones for client and us. The farmers, distributors, dealers and retailers gladly testified and moreover the results of this endeavor provided ample weightage to resonate the kind of success this campaign turned out to be. To be specific about the results, right after the product re-launch amongst distributors, there were enquiry from new parties to be part of the company. As a consequence, the retailer meet in bus resulted in more than expected participation.
The trade between re-launch amongst distributor and subsequent retailer meet responded pretty well. Over the trade community and received a prospective company to work with.
Kisan Chetna Rally baton exchanged baton with 10300 farmers across 40 days in approx 400 villages. The baton augured coming of good times for farmer as they could then look forward to a well performing brand from the portfolio of SFC. This has helped familiarize the brand with farmers.
Post-Kisan Chetan Rally news, we could reach out to agricultural think tank whose positive word of mouth is indispensable. Focused farmer activation across 266 villages activated 13355 farmers and left with being convinced about the brand. A gratification to 2200 farmers was identified as proactive farmers based on their participation in planned engagement.
Overall the results of the campaign were validated with a post-activity audit which in turn yielded an appreciation from the client. Off record, client has acknowledged some incremental sales and a double retail presence in the year 2012.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]
