Hul rural marketing strategy ppt

W15323 HINDUSTAN UNILEVER LIMITED: MOBILE MARKETING IN RURAL INDIA – KAN KHAJURA TESAN (B)1 Rakhi Thakur wrote this case solely to provide material for class discussion. The author does not intend to illustrate either effective or ineffective handling of a managerial situation. The author may have disguised certain names and other identifying information to protect confidentiality. This publication may not be transmitted, photocopied, digitized or otherwise reproduced in any form or by any means without the permission of the copyright holder. Reproduction of this material is not covered under authorization by any reproduction rights organization. To order copies or request permission to reproduce materials, contact Ivey Publishing, Ivey Business School, Western University, London, Ontario, Canada, N6G 0N1; (t) 519.661.3208; (e) cases@ivey.ca; www.iveycases.com. Copyright © 2015, Richard Ivey School of Business Foundation Version: 2015-07-22 There is a lot of demand for content or entertainment in media dark villages and mobiles become [companies’] only route to that world. So, we [decided to] institutionalize missed calls into an entertainment channel.2 — Hemant Bakshi, executive director, Hindustan Unilever Limited Kan Khajura Tesan (KKT), which could be translated as “the ear worm radio channel,”3 recorded good penetration in North and Central India. Hindustan Unilever Limited (HUL) had created the channel with the aim of offering mobile-based, free entertainment while advertising HUL brands. Since its launch in Bihar in October 2013, KKT had more 11 million subscribers by June 2014.4 HUL had stopped its radio advertising in Bihar as KKT had greater reach than any other radio station in the area5 and it hoped to reach 50 million consumers by June 2015.6 However, KKT’s initial success and future plans raised several questions. Beyond the initial excitement, how should HUL create repeated visits and a viral effect? How should the company handle the issue of multilingualism? Outside KKT’s sphere of influence in Hindi-speaking states, what regional aspects should be adopted while scaling up across India? INTRODUCING: KAN KHAJURA TESAN Campaign Design, Rollout Making a missed call to receive free entertainment was an attractive proposition for customers in “media dark” areas of India who were already using the missed call mechanism to communicate with others as part of their daily lives. To make its radio channel relevant for customers, HUL researched the lives and routines of target customers for culturally relevant content. The company launched its KKT campaign through radio and outdoor print media, inviting local audiences to dial a toll-free number and make a missed call.7 The promotional tagline, “Give us a missed call and get free entertainment,” connected with the mobile usage behaviour and captured the essence of the campaign.8 Upon making a missed call to the KKT toll-free number, users would receive a call back from the channel containing 18 minutes of pre-programmed entertainment.9 This document is authorized for use only by Yingqiao Huang (yh1996@nyu.edu). Copying or posting is an infringement of copyright. Please contact customerservice@harvardbusiness.org or 800-988-0886 for additional copies. Page 2 9B15A038 KKT was first piloted in Bihar in October 2013. Within two months, it had acquired nearly 4 million users, each averaging more than 35 million minutes of usage (see Exhibit 1).10 The channel was gradually expanded to other parts of Central and North India. By April 2014, more than 8 million customers subscribed to KKT, making it the largest media channel in its target segment for HUL.11 By June 2014, the channel had served more than 100 million ad impressions to 11 million subscribers, with more than 80 million minutes of consumer engagement.12 Quoting these figures, HUL vice-president Priya Nair said, “We developed the idea to address a business problem of reaching consumers in deep rural markets. Creating a mobile-based radio channel has brought entertainment to consumers who have almost no access to traditional entertainment.”13 Unlike regular media channels, mobile radio required specialized content creation and investment in telecommunication technology. For its on-demand advertorial channel, HUL collaborated not only with creative and media partners, but with content and mobile technology partners as well. Content provider Hungama prepared entertainment capsules tailored to the tastes of customers in different regions.14 KKT was hosted on mobile technology partner Ozonetel’s cloud communications platform.