[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]Brief & Objectives *
Shiram Fertilisers & Chemicals(SFC) has been a dominant brand in northern India with a loyal base of customer. And a proven record of lots of well performing products. One of it is Shriram Sper Phosphate(SSP).
In Maharashtra, SSP has been present for a while except for western Maharashtra which is an acclaimed region for horticulture. On the account of irregularity on supply front the retail presence was unsteady in those areas. As a result trade , distributors & dealers, was hesitant.
On the end user front , Phosphate being the most generic yet essential nutrient was by default indispensible and must-use for farmer. But no marketing efforts were put in till now.
This time with renewed focus, SFC has come up with a newly operational plant in the same region to better serve the market in long run.
The brief was thus to embark upon an marketing initiative that develops the market afresh afresh and build confidence amongst all the stake holder 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 expecting. The only challenge was to stand out from the clutter and gain a foothold for Shriram Super Phosphate.
Besides, trade and farmers were to be convinced about SFC’s commitment to serve Maharashtra for 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 new plant
- To take brand to end users and convince them on the overall proposition
- To build hype and hysteria around the brand amongst all the stake holder
Creative Route as Karo Shriram 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 farmer.
Concept and Activity *
Concept
Our strategic understanding of the product and market led us to identify the market segments and their media preference. Involvement of all the customer/consumer segments such as distributors, retailers, progressive farmers & farmers at Village level was at the core of the chalked out concept backed by right timing and touch point/place.
In addition to this, compelling product messages across each chosen media overridden by 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 had 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.
Product relaunch & Plant Visit
It was a 3 days along 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 was more of a informal get together as distributor have come from farm places. The event actually took shape from the day two.
Since we had access of all the distributor at one place and time, an engagement was apt to lighten up the mood and spirit. It had been planned basis tambola , popularly known as housie , to hammer the key messages that make up campaign proposition.
The night ended with folks performance, 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 was an occasion for company to talk business.
Kisan Chetna rally
A baton flagged off from the Ratnagiri plant of the client exchanged hand 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 partner who could not be part of the product unveiling and plant visit. We cracked an idea off “Plant On Wheel”.
The interiors of bus were tweaked to have a good sitting arrangement. The sides wall/panel were 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 input. The whole job from production to installation was turned around in 15 days.
Branding input includes dealer board, inflated dangler , LD Foam banner, Paper Weight
Focused Farmer Activation
Under this initiative we ve reached out to farmer to have a more focused engagement with them. As before they develop 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 being put in place.
The schematic engagement first paved the way for Shriram SSP by engaging farmers upon the criteria they put in place to decide about the any phosphate brand. Also they presented them a newly operational plant to have access to a Shriram product. This gave the brand a local touch.
The next level aimed at putting o Krao Shriram SSP Ka Irada into action. The content of engagement established our product basis certain USPs that farmers look forward to while buying SSP
Our engagement required farmers to bang on a punch pad with intensity. And the intensity of hitting it swings 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 SSP on the tongue during the campaign propelled by the timeliness of the entire integrated endeavor but also a renewed the interest of all the stakeholders. In this sense, the campaign marked the perfect right beginning.
Preceded with a designer personal invite that was hand-delivered to the attendant. Our product re-launch & plant visit sown the genesis in terms securing the support of distributor and dealers. During the 3 days long exercise, a total of 125 distributors and dealers enthusiastically participated. The company official too 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 bus thus proved to be the right medium. It reached out to 643 retailers from the target 6 district over the period of 30 days. In a day the team covered 4-5 talikas and one session was of 1.5 hrs.
Now before we could have embarked on activating 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 a record time of 25 days.
Farmers have started taking heed of our efforts resulted in some inquiry at a retail outlet. Side by side the retail branding initiative was being undertaken so as and when farmers walked into the retail outlet he had an inkling of something happening. Retailers too, who been part of the retailer meet, spoke positively about the company and brand.
Time was good to initiate a mass connection 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 newspaper which really 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-vehicle.
One will go an hour in advance and the next would follow. This way the participants were ready to receive the baton henceforth enough crowd for baton rally to be conducted. 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 the most of it we were ready with our next rollout. Focused farmer activation. In Kisan Chetna Rally we did not have the opportunity to have one to one dialogue with farmers. Focus farmer activation allowed having quality time with farmers. This was 30 days long van activation with a reach of 266 villages.
Results *
This campaign was quite literally one of the best and most memorable ones for the client and us. The farmers, distributors, dealers and retailers would gladly testify, and moreover, the results of this endeavor provide ample weightage to resonate the kind of success this campaign turned out to be.
To be specific about the results, right after the product relaunch amongst distributors there were inquiries from new parties to be part of the company. As a consequence, the retailer meet in bus resulted in more than expected participation.
As a result of relaunch amongst distributor and subsequent retailer meet the trade responded pretty well. we could thus win over the trade community and were received as a prospective company to work with.
Kisan Chetna Rally baton exchanged baton with 10300 farmers across 40 days in appx 400 villages. The baton augured the coming of good times for farmers as they could now 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 PR 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, set the expectation. Topped a gratification to 2200 farmers who were 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 the retail presence in the year 2012.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][image_carousel images=”13819,13820,13821″ click_action=”light_box”][/vc_column][/vc_row]
