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National Stock Exchange launches the first ever outdoor campaign by a bourse, on Rajdhani Express trains on three routes for a year
India's largest bourse by turnover, the National Stock Exchange (NSE), has decided to board the Rajdhani Express for its awareness campaign. The programme kick started on April 28 with the idea to empower the market participants and enhance the trading experience through focused and relevant market related education.
"The campaign is basically to talk to our potential investors about the benefits of investing," says Ravi Narain, managing director and chief executive officer, NSE.
The campaign will be carried out for a year on one train, that will run on three different routes on different days - Delhi-Chennai, Delhi-Thiruvananthapuram and Delhi-Bengaluru. It is expected to reach more than 2.5 lakh passengers, crossing 34 locations across 11 states in the country.
The 17 coaches of the train are splashed with images of Nifty, NSE's flagship index. The inside panels carry important investor awareness messages, while the coaches bear the tagline 'Karodon sapnon ki prerna' in Hindi and 'The engine that fuels a billion dreams' in English. The motto of the campaign is 'Soch kar, samajh kar, invest kar', a message to invest carefully. "As of now, the messages are in English and Hindi. We will gradually translate them into other languages as well," says Narain.
These messages are also provided through audio visual messages inside the trains. The audio messages comprise of NSE's jingle and the messages that are played at every stoppage, which bear the NSE branding.
Outside the train, a total visual area of 25,000 sq. ft is covered by vinyl wraps carrying NSE's branding. Inside the trains, branding is being carried out across various formats including the panels, audio clips and branded uniforms of the housekeeping staff.
The communication initiative is part of the public-private partnership (PPP) between NSE, Indian Railways, Peacock Media and CTS Management. In 2008-09, Peacock Media had earned the rights of 50 rakes for five years by paying approximately Rs 25 lakh per year per route to Indian Railways as the license fee. NSE has got a train from Peacock Media for a year at the cost of Rs 2.85 crore, excluding service tax.
The upgrading and maintenance of the trains is being handled by Peacock Media and includes laying high quality, abrasion resistant flooring, maintaining clean toilets and putting in soap dispensers, tissue paper dispensers, deodorant based toilet flushing systems and automated fragrance dispensers in the compartments.
The Chennai Rajdhani covers a distance of 2,194 kilometres in about 28 hours, while the Bangalore Rajdhani covers a distance of 2,382 kilometres in 34 hours. The Thiruvananthapuram Rajdhani covers about 3,149 km in 43 hours.
The creative agency for the campaign is Cornerstone Communications.
Earlier, Max New York Life Insurance, Airtel and Kerela Tourism have also used Rajdhani Express trains for promotional activities. Pepsi had done an initiative with the Blue Billion Express plying between Delhi and Jaipur. Similarly, three trains running between Bengaluru-Nagercoil, Bengaluru-Chennai and Bengaluru-Hubli were branded Kurkure Express.