Emvies 2009: On Wheel, 'wheels' and live stunts

The final category for case study presentations at the Emvies was for Best Media Innovations - Events. Virgin Mobiles, Wheel detergent and TVS Scooty stole the show

The final category showcased at the annual Emvies 2009 was that of Best Media Innovations - Events. The presentation took place at the Welingker College premises in Mumbai.

Mindshare kicked off the category's presentations with its case study on Virgin Mobile. The telecom brand was launching at a time when there were a number of telecom players and three dominant ones. A number of these had big celebrity brand ambassadors.

Thus, like its tagline, Think Hatke, it planned a 'hatke' launch without a brand ambassador, but with a live stunt and a 20-minute 'no-cuts film'.

Emvies 2009: On Wheel, 'wheels' and live stunts

On the day of the Virgin Mobile launch, Sir Richard Branson, chairperson and founder, Virgin Group, performed a stunt by 'flying' down the façade of The Hilton Towers in Mumbai, unveiling the Virgin Mobile logo in mid flight. He landed into the media and the people gathered below, where he popped open a bottle of champagne. His stunt created a huge buzz and received large scale media coverage in newspapers, on news channels and online.

The youth were invited to participate in auditions for roles in a 20-minute Bollywood pot boiler, Andaz Apna Very Hatke, to be shot straight with no cuts and aired on Channel V as Bollywood Bang Bang.

After the star cast was finalised, a number of sets were created, with actors and crew ready to move from set to set. The film also starred Neha Dhupia and a 'secret' saviour, who turned out to be Sir Branson himself, who rescues her. The brand's tie up with youth channel, Channel V, had more than 60 VJ (video jockey) IDs created where the VJs talked about the film and gave details of the film that was to be aired on the channel.

As a result of this entire activity, 10 million people were reached. More than 200 people came for auditions and it created PR three times as much as the total marketing investment, launching the brand with much fanfare and a 'hatke' idea.

Mindshare also presented its case study for detergent brand, Wheel. Wheel was tied with the touring talkies of Jatra, a small village in Maharashtra, 400 kms from Mumbai. The mobile theatres attract thousands of people, who otherwise lead simple lives. The fair like event sells household necessities, has games, giant wheels and most importantly, people come here to watch movies in the makeshift theatres.

Wheel managed to tie up with the festival and its ads were played in between movies. Static ads and mobile vans were also used. It also tied up with the popular Marathi actor, Alka Tai, who endorsed the brand and went across the theatres, personally handing out movie tickets and interacting with the public, much to their excitement.

With this activity, Wheel managed to reach out to four crore people and garnered a 10 per cent increase in sales and 1.5 per cent increase in market share.

For TVS Scooty, Mudra Max executed a small town programme where it went beyond branding and launched The Scooty Institute only for women in 80 cities across India. The institute offered a six-day course, after which a student could get a learner's license, all for Rs 350. Road safety seminars and riding instructions were also offered to students.

With this activity, 3.9 lakh women were reached initially and more than 42,000 women were trained on Scootys by TVS certified trainers. Sales of the TVS Scooty at dealerships reportedly went up by 24 per cent after the activity.

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