Emvies 2007: Onida isn’t sorry for the disruption

At the Emvies 2007 case study presentation round held in Mumbai last week, the MindShare team spoke of its efforts to leverage experiential marketing on radio for client Onida

Experiential marketing on radio may not be too tried and tested a concept, but MindShare seems to have pulled it off for client Onida. Its work has been entered in the Best Media Innovation: Radio category at the Emvies 2007.

For its scratch-proof DVD player range, Onida was facing some stiff competition. After all, DVD players are known for superior sound and picture quality, and hardly for a feature such as an inbuilt scratch guard (which enables playing DVDs with scratches on them). Despite launching a TVC, sales were nowhere near expectations.

MindShare decided to launch an innovative radio activity that would help the brand do its job with lesser monies involved. As per a research study, it was ascertained that one hour of radio listening involves 10 minutes of ads, 10 minutes worth RJ talk, and 40 minutes of music (songs). As both RJ talk and ads tend to result in a station switch (unless very compelling), MindShare decided to target the most listened to segment on radio: music. The ad for Onida DVD players was integrated within the song itself.

For instance, when a song started playing, it would loop repeatedly, or there would be audio disturbances in the song, just enough to grab attention. This was quickly followed by a message, “One scratch can ruin your movie.” Thus, listeners were encouraged to switch to Onida DVD players for a scratch-proof movie experience.

The song disruption idea, which MindShare claims is a first for any brand, resulted in a 58 per cent increase in sales, and helped Onida DVD players enter the top three league in its segment. Music to the client’s ears?