CSR on heart helps Radio Stations cross path

Radio jockeys (RJs) hopping between various radio stations is no big deal. Though, it comes as a surprise if jockeys of various radio stations come together on the same platform, not to compete but to promote a cause. In a first of its kind, Marico and Madison Media brought together four RJs of various FM stations in Mumbai to co-host a common one hour programme on heart care. The programme was broadcast simultaneously on Saturday morning between 10 to 11 am across Big FM, Radio City, Radio One and Red FM .

The event took off on the occasion of World Heart Day, Saffola Life, a corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiative of Marico. The motive was to educate Mumbai about heart care. This initiative communicated information to the citizens about the perils of heart diseases. It particularly imparted knowledge on the four leading causes for heart disease, namely obesity, diabetes, smoking and hypertension. It also gave the citizens a unique opportunity to avail a free cholesterol test through SMS, which could help them identify whether they were at risk and accordingly, take preventive measures.

To ensure better connect and maximum participation in a large market such as Mumbai, it became essential for Marico and Madison Media to reach out to the citizens through this unique gesture.

Says, Priyanka Gandhi, deputy general manager, Madison Media, “Considering it was World Heart Day, we wanted to ensure that the initiative made an impact on the maximum number of people. The conventional route would have been to do some stand alone innovations on one or two FM stations. However, to ensure maximum awareness and participation, we came up with the big idea of getting Mumbai’s favourite RJ’s on one common platform to talk to their listeners about the causes of heart diseases and how to keep their hearts healthy. ”

Shekhar Banerjee, account controller on Marico at Madison Media, adds, “The concept of simulcast was a huge challenge for me and my team. We had a completely different role to play here. We needed to protect the interests of each station. RJs are after all the core identity and unique property of each station and asking them to share the RJ’s was similar to asking The Times of India to carry a Hindustan Times masthead! We, therefore, had to address each station’s concern on not only sharing their RJ with another station but also giving other station RJ’s exposure on their station. Given the largeness of the cause, and the way all stations understood the seriousness of the issue, we did manage to do this impossible feat and aired an engaging programme on heart care simultaneously over four FM stations, for an hour each, on Saturday morning”

“Post the airing of this programme the SMSs asking for the free cholesterol check has more than doubled in Mumbai city,” says Sameer Sathpathy, head, marketing – Wellness and New products, Marico.