Why is this mosquito poking people on Facebook?

It won't be too long since you were last poked on Facebook by your friend. But have you ever been poked by a dengue mosquito? On Sunday, August 20, which was World Mosquito Day, Facebook users received poke notifications from an unusual profile. This unusual user was a dengue mosquito.

A closer look at the profile and one would notice that unlike a real mosquito whose poke can cause dengue and many other diseases, this poke by the dengue mosquito profile is a way to create awareness about World Mosquito Day, a Facebook initiative by Godrej.

A screenshot of Godrej HIT's Facebook page - Kill Pests Kill Diseases
Click here to enlargeOnce the users visited the dengue mosquito's profile, they were then urged to #HitDengueBack by registering as platelet donors. OgilvyOne, Mumbai is behind this Facebook initiative for Godrej Hit's platelet donation drive.

Another screenshot of Godrej HIT's Facebook page - Kill Pests Kill Diseases
Click here to enlarge Talking about the objective of this campaign, Kapil Dev Pillai, head of marketing, India, GCPL, says, "The objective was to drive awareness for the cause of building India's first online platelet donor community to save lives of dengue patients. Netizens were urged by Kala HIT on World Mosquito Day to register as platelet donors."

Screenshot of the registration page to become a platelet donor - Source godrejhit.com
Click here to enlarge

Kapil Dev PillaiAdding about how a brand measures the return on investments in such campaigns, Pillai says, "Overall success of such a campaign is measured with the level of engagement and talk-ability that it garners on the social platforms. With organic reach on social platforms reducing day-by-day, brands need ideas that can build intrigue and leverage topicality. Organic shares and positive conversations are the success parameters for such campaigns."

Speaking of the biggest marketing challenges faced in the home insecticides segment, Pillai says, "Home insecticides is a low involvement category, people generally don't like talking about mosquitoes and diseases caused by them, hence building conversations and salience in this category is the real challenge."