By Devesh Gupta
Digital

Another Bucket Challenge

Racold Thermo has launched a campaign where it is urging people to take a warm water of bucket and pour over them and record the act.

'ALS Ice Bucket Challenge' was a runaway hit in 2014 with celebrities across genres and people from all over the world participating in it. Taking a cue, Racold Thermo, a water-heating device manufacturer, kickstarted its latest campaign titled 'Wake Up Bucket' challenge.

The idea in this campaign is to pour a bucket of warm water on oneself and record a video of the act, then nominate a friend for the challenge and upload the video on the Wake Up Bucket Challenge microsite or on Racold Thermo's Facebook Page.

The brand will donate one water heater to the underprivileged for every 25 videos uploaded. The donation will go to orphanages and old age homes. Racold Thermo believes that there are millions of people across the country who have to take a cold bath every day, no matter how low the temperatures are, simply because they do not have access to hot water. Racold Thermo wants to help these people simply by facilitating hot water bathing.

Another Bucket Challenge
Another Bucket Challenge
Another Bucket Challenge
Another Bucket Challenge
Another Bucket Challenge
Speaking about the idea, Prashant Dhar, head, marketing, Racold Thermo, says, "We aimed making a difference to the society in the course of reaching out to our TG and making this category interesting for users." He further adds that though the idea resembles the original ALS Ice Bucket Challenge, it has been tweaked to fit the brand offering. "We wanted to leverage the idea and begin something which has its roots in India. Our employees were the first ones to take this challenge. We wanted to connect with our audience at an emotional level especially after we have repositioned the brand as 'Reborn Everyday with Hot water' from 'The Water Specialist'," adds Dhar. The brand is promoting the campaign via digital, and radio spots. It is also preparing to launch a disruptive TVC in the near future. "Wait and watch," adds Dhar. The idea is to reach people between 25 and 34 years. Racold Thermo is expecting to get over 2,500 uploads and donate over 100 water heaters.

This campaign is designed by OMD and executed by BC Webwise. It will continue for over two months and the extension will depend on the responses. In the last two years, Racold Thermo has executed several offline and online initiatives to connect with the audience and increase its brand presence. "Our recall has reached the No.1 spot in the category - it was at 6 or 7 a couple of years ago," adds Dhar. Some of these initiatives include Indieblogger contest, Switch2Green Contest, revamping the website, launching an app, a mobile website, a Doodle and others.

For their Switch2Green initiative, the brand touched over 50 RWAs (resident welfare associations) and connected with around 5,000 families in telling them how they could save electricity by adopting a green lifestyle. Speaking more on the brand marketing strategies, Dhar says, "For us digital is the most important medium since it helps us to connect with the people and create conversations. Print is the support medium while TV acts as an amplifier. We have also created four viral videos in last two years."

Racold Thermo is a fully owned subsidiary of Ariston Thermo Group - Italy, a leading manufacturer of water and space heating products and their components. The Indian operations include water a heater plant in Chakan near Pune. The brand claims to produce over 5,00,000 units per year, for domestic and export segment.

For the record, the Ice Bucket Challenge, which started in early August, 2014 was a simple request under which once challenged by someone, a user has to film himself (or herself) pouring a bucket of water over the head and upload the video on the web. If they fail to do so, they have to donate money to the ALS (amyotrophic lateral sclerosis) Association within 24 hours. Once soaked, they need to nominate others and ask them to either do the same or make a donation to an organisation dedicated to fighting ALS. The viral stunt raised awareness about ALS, which is neuro-degenerative and is also known as motor neuron disease (MND).

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