Friday, 29 April 2011

Dove Campaign for Real Beauty

SITUATION:

The Dove Campaign for Real Beauty (CFRB) began in England in 2004 when Dove’s sales declined as a result of being lost in a crowded market. Unilever, Dove’s parent company, went to Edelman, its PR agency, for a solution. Together, they conceived a campaign that focused not on the product, but on a way to make women feel beautiful regardless of their age and size.

The following summer, CFRB was brought to the United States and Canada. CRFB aimed not only to increase sales of Dove beauty products, but also targeted women of all ages and shapes. According to the CFRB website, “The Dove Campaign for Real Beauty is a global effort that is intended to serve as a starting point for societal change and act as a catalyst for widening the definition and discussion of beauty. The campaign supports the Dove mission: to make women feel more beautiful every day by challenging today’s stereotypical view of beauty and inspiring women to take great care of themselves.”

In addition to changing women’s view of their bodies, Dove also aimed to change the beauty market. In an industry where the standard of beauty is often a size two blonde supermodel, Dove distinguished itself by using models that ranged from size six to fourteen. CRFB abandoned the conventional cynical method of portraying “perfect” women as beauty role models.


RESEARCH:
Dove commissioned The Real Truth About Beauty study as a way to explore what beauty means to women today. StrategyOne, an applied research firm, managed the study in conjunction with Dr. Nancy Etcoff and Massachusetts General Hospital- Harvard University, and with consultation of Dr. Susie Orbach of the London School of Economics. Between February 27, 2004 and March 26, 2004, the global study collected data from 3,200 women, aged 18 to 64. Interviews were conducted across ten countries: the U.S., Canada, Great Britain, Italy, France, Portugal, Netherlands, Brazil, Argentina and Japan.

The study evolved out of a desire to talk to women around the world about female beauty. According to the study, “Dove knows that the relationship women have with beauty is complex: it can be powerful and inspiring, but elusive and frustrating as well. We sponsored this study in order to probe more deeply into this intricate relationship. Dove wanted to understand how women define beauty; how satisfied they are with their beauty; how they feel about female beauty’s portrayal in society; and, how beauty affects their well-being.” This was the first comprehensive study of its kind.

The following statistics are a sampling of results from the study:
• Only 2% of these women describe themselves as “beautiful”

• About 3/4 of them rate their beauty as "average"

• Almost 1/2 of them think their weight is "too high"

The previous findings are particularly the case in the U.S. (60%), Great Britain (57%) and Canada (54%).
• Almost half of all women (48%) strongly agreed (8, 9, or 10 on a 10-point scale) with the statement that: “When I feel less beautiful, I feel worse about myself in general.”

• Just 13% of all women say they are very satisfied with their beauty, 12% with their physical attractiveness, 17% with their facial attractiveness and 13% with their body weight and shape.

• The study revealed that women see beauty and physical attractiveness as increasingly socially mandated and rewarded. Almost two-thirds strongly agreed that: “Women today are expected to be more physically attractive than their mother’s generation was” (63%); and, “Society expects women to enhance their physical attractiveness” (60%).

Larry Koffler, the senior vice president of consumer brands at Edelman, maintained that the research was vital to the campaign: “Without having a foundation in the global research study, which showed that the image of beauty was unattainable, we wouldn’t have had the credibility in creating the materials, in pitching stories and being able to answer some of the folks that didn’t agree with the campaign.”

After the initial study, Dove commissioned two more studies, one in 2005 and one in 2006. The additional information furthered Dove’s research about women’s perceptions of beauty across several cultures.

The later studies revealed the following data:

• 90% of all women 15-64 worldwide want to change at least one aspect of their physical appearance (with body weight ranking the highest).

• 67% of all women 15 to 64 withdraw from life-engaging activities due to feeling badly about their looks (among them things like giving an opinion, going to school, going to the doctor).

• 61% of all women and 69% of girls (15 to 17) feel that their mother has had a positive influence on their feelings about themselves and their beauty.

• 91% feel the media and advertising need to do a better job of representing realistic images of women over 50.

• 97% believe society is less accepting of appearance considerations for women over 50 compared to their younger counterparts, especially when focused on the body.

• Nearly 60% of women believe that if magazines were reflective of a population, a person would likely believe women over 50 do not exist.

• 87% of women believe they are too young to be old.


AUDIENCE:
Target Audience: All women, all ages and of all sizes.

OBJECTIVES:
• Increase sales of Dove beauty products and new product lines

• Create dialogue, debate, and discussion about the true meaning of beauty

• Attract national TV and print media coverage

• Gain local press attention in the hometowns of models featured throughout the campaign

• Drive users to the CFRB Web site to share their thoughts and opinions about the campaign and beauty stereotypes

• Create a call to action for consumers to join the movement through website pledge that activate a donation by Dove for self-esteem awareness programs

TACTICS:

Advertising:
• Dove launched a global advertising campaign in October 2004 questioning whether “model” attributes, such as youth, slimness, and symmetrical features, are required for beauty - or if they are completely irrelevant to it. The ads each presented an image of a woman whose appearance differed from the stereotypical physical ideal, and asked the reader/viewer to judge the woman's looks by checking off a box.
o “Wrinkled? Wonderful?” featured Irene Sinclair, 95, of London, England with a wrinkled face and asked: “Will society ever accept old can be beautiful?”
o “Gray? Gorgeous?” featured Merlin Glozer, 45, of London, England with a natural mane of gray hair and asks: “Why aren't women glad to be gray?”
o “Oversized? Outstanding?” featured Tabatha Roman, 34, of New York, NY a plus-size woman and asked: “Does true beauty only squeeze into a size 6?”
o “Half empty? Half full?” featured Esther Poyer, 35, of London, England with small breasts and asked: “Does sexiness depend on how full your cups are?”
o “Flawed? Flawless?” featured Leah Sheehan, 22, of London, England with freckles and asked: “Does beauty mean looking like everyone else?”

• Each ad directed readers/viewers to www.campaignforrealbeauty.com where they could cast their votes.

TV Commercials:
Dove aired many commercials to reach the target audience, including the following:

• Commercial aired during the Super Bowl 2006
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=1731400614466797113

• Commercial aired on February 2005 and had its world premiere as part of Donald Trump's "The Apprentice".
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AOLfyUcYfpo

• Dove Campaign for Real Beauty (Hong Kong)
http://youtube.com/watch?v=Fc2Ity4uV_Y

Website:
• Women can visit www.campaignforrealbeauty.com and cast their votes on the questions raised in the ad campaign. The website also allows women to partake in ongoing dialogue about beauty by posting to discussion boards, downloading several research studies about beauty, and hearing and reading what women around the world have to say.

Billboards:
• Dove placed mobile billboards in major cities. Each billboard challenged women's notions of beauty by encouraging them to cast their votes online. A featured interactive billboard, located in New York's Times Square highlighted and kept a running tally of the votes submitted for the “Wrinkled? Wonderful?” ad.

Panel discussions:
• The Campaign for Real Beauty launched in New York City on September 29 with a panel discussion about beauty. The kick-off was co-hosted by American Women in Radio and Television®, and featured Dr. Nancy Etcoff of Harvard University; Mindy Herman, former CEO, E! Entertainment Television; Andi Bernstein, Vice President, Special Projects, Oxygen Media and other media and beauty leaders

• Dove furthered the panel discussions on a grassroots level by partnering with the Woodhull Institute for Ethical Leadership, a not-for-profit educational organization that provides ethical leadership training and professional development for women, for two special weekend workshops held in Atlanta (October 8-10) and Chicago (November 12-14).

Interviews:
• Interviews with major television shows such as: Good Morning America, The Today Show, The Early Show, The Ellen DeGeneres Show, The View and Oprah.

The Dove Self-Esteem Fund:
• Dove established the Dove Self-Esteem Fund to raise awareness among young girls of the link between beauty and body-related self-esteem.
o Dove funds programs that raise self-esteem in girls and young women.
o In the US, the Dove Self-Esteem Fund works through the Unilever Foundation to sponsor uniquely ME!, a partnership program with Girl Scouts of the USA. Uniquely ME! helps girls ages 8-14 build their self-confidence through activities and programs.
o The Fund also supports BodyTalk, an educational program for schools in the United Kingdom and Canada.

Programs:
• Establishment of the Program for Aesthetics and Well-Being at Harvard University, through a grant from Dove, which will continue to study the way we view women in the media and culture and the effect that this has on women's well-being.

• Creation of a global touring photography exhibit, Beyond Compare, Women Photographers on Beauty, showcasing diverse images of female beauty from 67 female photographers, and showing beauty beyond stereotypes.


IN THE NEWS:
Press Coverage
After CFRB was launched, a slew of press was devoted to the ads in the campaign. The campaign was featured and debated across both print and broadcast media. CFRB was featured on national morning shows such as Good Morning America, The Early Show, and The Today Show. Moreover, CFRB was featured on popular talk shows such as The Ellen DeGeneres Show, The View, Oprah and The Tyra Banks Show. Overwhelmingly, the response of the media applauded the campaign, however CFRB was also criticized. In national and local newspapers and journals, CFRB was written about, debated and the press received responses from the public in the form of letters, online voting, and message boards. Of the 22 articles we found over a time period of 4 years (2004-2007), 17 articles covered CFRB positively, praising the campaign. Only five articles criticized the campaign.

PRAISE FOR THE CAMPAIGN FOR REAL BEAUTY
• In the Pittsburgh Tribune Review, John Conroy applauded CFRB, saying “Thank you Dove. No, this isn't an op-ed piece from a ‘real customer’ discussing the benefits of the latest skincare line. I don't even use Dove products. But I am a fan. This is something far more serious, and real. This is about Dove's Campaign for Beauty. When did curvaceousness become the equivalent to chubby or fat?” Conroy went on to explain how body consciousness has become part of everyday life for men in addition to women. Moreover, he commented on how Hollywood starlets have evolved from voluptuous, like Marilyn Monroe, to the waifs of today, like Mischa Barton or Nicole Ritchie.

• PRWeek named CFRB the Consumer Launch if the Year 2006 in the article “Edelman and Unilever-Dove: Campaign for Real Beauty.”

• Barbara Lippert critiqued Dove’s most recent effort for Cream Oil Body Wash in a February 26, 2007 article. “Altogether, I give it three-and-a-half loofahs out of five. I guess it's a testament to how powerful the campaign has been in relaying its message so far.” Lippert was featured on The Early Show, talking about the ad. “…it goes against what everybody did for 50 years, which is make you anxious about how you look and, you know, make you think you need to be better. This is saying ‘You’re good enough.’”

• In the article “Ahead of the Curve” by Tanika White of the Baltimore Sun, White credits CFRB with starting a trend of showing average sized women in the media to change beauty perceptions. “Actress Sara Ramirez introduced the winner of a contest to create the newest Dove ad in a commercial during Sunday's Oscar telecast. On the TV hit Grey's Anatomy, Ramirez portrays Dr. Calliope "Callie" Torres, a full-figured doctor among waifish female interns. The Dove campaign appears to have started a bit of a trend. Other companies have caught on.”

• Dr. Joyce Brothers weighed in on the Dove campaign with an article in Advertising Age. In the article, Dr. Brothers presents a psychologist’s opinion on the boost that women receive from seeing ads like those featured in CFRB. “Dove helps show that we have come a long way when we no longer have to try to look exactly like every other woman who has been declared by some fashion magazine or film czar to be the epitome of beauty.”

• Molly Prior of Women’s Wear Daily called the campaign “gutsy” and chronicled the beginning of CFRB.

• In a January 12, 2007 article in Women’s Wear Daily, Michelle Edgar described the efforts of Dove in introducing Pro-Age Campaign. In the article, Edgar included quotes from the marketing director of Dove, Kathy O’Brien, describing Dove’s mission and describing the success of the campaign thus far.

• USA Today featured CFRB in an article about Dove’s 2006 Superbowl ad. Writer Theresa Howard called the ad “inspirational.”

DEBATING ‘REAL BEAUTY’
• The article “Why Dove Ads Are So Controversial” by Susanna Schrobsdorff for Newsweek, described the controversy surrounding reactions to CFRB and wondered “Are the women in the company’s new ad campaign too big to sell beauty products, or have our minds gotten too small?” Schrobsdorff peppered the article with quotes from various sources on both sides of the debate. Furthermore, she argued if it was really the size of the models in CFRB ads or the way the ad was photographed. “While photographer Ian Rankin may have been going for a refreshing, natural look, the unretouched photos turned out to be the equivalent of full-length passport shots of women in what looks like underwear meant for jogging. One has to ask whether even celebrity beauties like Jennifer Lopez, Beyoncé Knowles, or Kate Winslet would inspire the same harsh critiques under those less-than-flattering conditions.” The emails that Newsweek received following the article were printed in an online mail call supported CFRB. “Betty from Chattanooga, Tenn., writes: ‘It's high time someone starts promoting healthy women instead of sticks with imperfections airbrushed out. Women who wear sizes 6 to 12 are NOT fat…’ Christine from St. Louis writes: ‘I just read this article and am surprised that anyone would be hostile to Dove's campaign. I think it's about time that companies started embracing the reality of how women in America look.’”

CRITICISMS OF THE CAMPAIGN FOR REAL BEAUTY
• In the Lansing State Journal, gender columnist Matt Katz questioned why there wasn’t a campaign similar to CFRB intended for men. Citing that men are increasingly more self conscious about their looks, Katz maintained that “women can no longer claim a hold on vanity.”

• Bob Garfield of Advertising Age was swayed over time by CFRB. In a July 25, 2005 article Garfield criticized Dove, calling the campaign self-righteous and hypocritical. The models, he said “…are all still head-turners, with straight white teeth, no visible pores, and not a cell of cellulite…they represent a beauty standard still idealized and, for the overwhelming majority of consumers, still pretty damn unattainable.” In the article, Garfield gave the Dove ads a 2.5 star rating out of 4. In an October 30, 2006 article, Garfield seemed to have changed his mind. “From the beginning, the ‘Campaign for Real Beauty’ had the makings of something extraordinary, celebrating a concept of beauty far broader than the anorexic, breast-implanted, tricked-up Barbie doll of the culture’s fantasies.” Garfield praised the viral-video released on the internet entitled “Evolution.” “…They’ve latched on to a powerful idea here and have demonstrated magnificent sensitivity in following it through.” In this review of the CFRB, Garfield gave the ad 4 stars.

• Richard Roeper, of the Chicago-Sun Times and of Ebert-and Roeper fame, included comments in a July 19, 2005 article “How come women can’t get the message: Listen!” In the article, Roeper commented that “Chunky women in their underwear have surrounded my house…I find these Dove ads a little unsettling. If I want to see plump gals baring too much skin, I’ll go to Taste of Chicago, OK? If that makes me sound superficial, shallow and sexist – well yes, I’m a man.” Readers responded by calling Roeper “an idiot,” “a Neanderthal,” and “a sexist loser.” Roeper received such overwhelming angry answers from his readers that he wrote a full article the next week clarifying his comments. Roeper included the comments written to him in response to the article and included a list of “Things I never said” but did not back off of his comments regarding CFRB, saying “I’m sorry if you’re average sized or overweight and it’s made your life more difficult. I’m sorry if you or someone you love had an eating disorder. I’m sorry we don’t live in a world where everyone is judged by what’s on the inside. I’m not sorry for what I wrote.”

• Also in the Chicago-Sun Times, columnist Lucio Guerrero devoted a column to criticizing the campaign, saying “Really the only time I want to see a thigh that big is in a bucket with bread crumbs on it…ads should be about the unrealistic, the ideal or unattainable look, for which so many people strive.” He also called Dove hypocritical, saying “The folks at Dove want us to embrace our ‘real beauty’ and love who we are no matter what we look like. If that’s the case why are they selling firming cream?”

RESPONSES TO CRITISICM
• In response to the articles written by Roeper and Guerrero, author Wendy McClure responded with a piece called “The Fat Between the Ears” which was also featured in the Chicago-Sun Times. McClure blasted her male counterparts calling the criticism heaped on the CFRB models as “crude.” McClure praised CFRB as “an extremely well-calculated promotion for soap and cosmetic products; an effort to challenge unrealistic media images; a controversy.” She also warned that we, as a society, need to pay attention to the negative responses to campaign “as crude as they sound, and as much as we would like to brush them off as ‘part of the controversy’ or ‘typical dumb guy talk.’ Because they’re not just dumb. They’re unreasonable. And why should we have to accept them as typical?” McClure went on to describe how ads in Manhattan and in the UK had been vandalized with spray paint or stickers reading “Fat isn’t Glamorous” and “Who ate all the pies?” and urged readers to avoid dissecting the CFRB models as well as other women portrayed in the media. McClure ended by reminding women that they need not base themselves on the view of men, she writes, “And this isn't about whether men's fantasies are unrealistic or stupid or shallow or shameful. Men are certainly entitled to their preferences. Having preferences is one thing; expecting the world to cater to them is another. Men aren't obligated to consider every woman beautiful, or for that matter, to make every woman feel good about herself. But by the same token, nobody owes you a nice view, guys.”

• In an interview with MSNBC.com, Deb Boyda, part of the ad team that put together CFRB, dismissed the criticisms, saying “"We are telling them we want them to take care of themselves, take care of their beauty," she said. "That's very different from sending them the message to look like something they're not." The article went on to interview women who have been touched by the ad: “In Chicago, woman after woman passing by a huge Dove billboard said they think the company has done just that. ‘Most girls don't have that type of body (of a model) and they know they won't get to that,’ said Gaby Hurtado, 22. ‘But seeing this they say, “I can do that.”' Boyda said besides women, dads of daughters also have offered praise for the ads. ‘They can imagine a day when their daughter has to look in the mirror and say, “You know, I have big thighs and I am not beautiful any more.’”

Press Vs. PR Message

In many of the articles written about CFRB, information and statistics on the campaign came directly from Dove, including the Dove Global Study. According to PRweek, the publicity for CFRB generated more than 650 million imprints during the summer of 2005 alone.

Of the 22 articles collected for this project:

• 18 directly discussed some aspect of an ad made by Dove for the CFRB.

• 10 had a direct quote from someone representing Dove or Unilever.

• 17 used some element of a press release to add to their story.

• 7 mentioned the CFRB website

• 6 mentioned the Dove Global Study and/or used statistics from the study.

• 17 articles covered CFRB positively, praising the campaign.

• Only 5 articles criticized the campaign.


Overall, Dove did an excellent job of controlling how their campaign was presented. Media coverage was in line with what was sent out as the message from the organization. In the five articles that criticized the campaign, only one used information from Dove. The other articles were based solely on the opinion of the author.


CURRENT:
Commercial Competition
• The winner of a commercial competition for Dove made a guest appearance on “Good Morning America” on February 27, 2007. The 22-year-old creator, Lindsay Miller, stated on national television that doing everyday, silly things when no one is watching is what makes people beautiful. The commercial, one of more than 1,000 entries, featured Miller singing into a pink hairbrush and dancing in the shower. Miller told “Good Morning America” anchor Chris Cuomo that this is what makes people beautiful, not their outer appearance. Miller’s commercial ends with the line, “Cuz what’s better than knowing you’re beautiful, even when no one is looking? That’s real beauty. Love Dove.”

• Accompanying Miller on “Good Morning America” was “Grey’s Anatomy” actress Sara Rameriez who presented the commercial at its debut on Sunday night during the Oscar’s. Rameriez stated that “Beauty comes in many different shapes and many different colors," and goes onto explain that the campaign tells women "you are beautiful just the way you are."

Dove Pro-Age
• According to a global study conducted by Dove, nearly all women over the age of fifty would like to see a change in society’s view on women and aging. Women over the age of fifty also believe that if the media were reflective of the population, a person might not believe that a woman over the age of 50 even exists. To combat these beliefs, Dove is positioning itself as the first global beauty brand to talk to women about aging in a positive tone.

• This is the second phase of the Campaign for Real Beauty and is known as pro-age. Pro-age celebrates women over the age of fifty by challenging the idea that only the young are beautiful.

• The initiative has materialized into a global communications campaign featuring images of real women who reveal their grey hair, age spots and curves to uncover the fact that women are beautiful at any age.

• Dove has also introduced a first-of-its kind pro-age product line designed specifically to meet the needs that older women may experience in relation to their skin and hair. The packaging of the products features a larger font size and highlights active ingredients that will help maturing hair and skin.

• This phase of the campaign was born out of the fact that women over the age of fifty are under-represented in society.

• According to Dove’s recent study, “Beauty Comes of Age,” 87% of the women surveyed believed that they were too young to be old, and 91% believed that the media needs “to do a better job of representing realistic images of women over the age of 50.”

Thinness in Models
• Janice Min, editor of US Weekly, is quoted in an Associated Press article on February 5, as saying, “It amazes me, the whole world has shrunk.” She then goes on to say, “For once, an establishment has set forth that there is something wrong with this. Things may not change completely, but women may look and say, ‘maybe there’s something wrong with THEM, and not me.” This is the message of Dove, who launched the Campaign for Real Beauty in 2004 after a study found that only 2 percent of women worldwide described themselves as beautiful.

• In the article it was almost as though Dove were being portrayed as an expert, an “establishment” that has set forth to make a change in how women view their bodies and themselves.

EVALUATION:
While the exact current information about CFRB has not yet been determined because the campaign is ongoing, here is some of the information that was evaluated after the initial launch:

• In the summer of 2005, the Dove campaign received nearly four hours of broadcast time, including more than 10 minutes on The Today Show. On that day alone, more than 60,000 people visited the CFRB Web site.

• During the summer of 2005, the campaign also secured coverage from 62 national television programs, securing more than four hours of broadcast time, including: The View, Good Morning America, Access Hollywood, Entertainment Tonight, Oprah, The Ellen DeGeneres Show, The Early Show and The Jane Pauly Show.

• CFRB also received feature coverage in high-profile print outlets, landing the cover of People magazine. Coverage included USA Today, The New York Times Magazine and Allure. The campaign received more than 1,000 placements in print, Web, television and radio, far exceeding expectations.

• The campaign generated more than 650 million impressions during the summer of 2005.

• According to Dove, sales for the products featured in the ads increased 600 percent in the first two months of the campaign.

• As of June 2005, more than 1 million visitors had logged onto www.campaignforrealbeauty.com and shared their thoughts about the campaign.

• Awards
 PR Week’s Consumer Launch Campaign of the Year 2006
 PRSA’s Silver Anvil ‘Best of’ Award 2006
 Grand EFFIE Award 2006

Times of India's 'Teach India' Campaign


Abstract:

This case is about The Times of India's (ToI) social marketing initiatives. Though TOI was one of the largest circulated newspapers in the world, it was criticized for promoting 'yellow journalism'. In order to build its brand image, TOI adopted a social marketing strategy and projected itself as an agent of social change by launching a series of social campaigns highlighting social issues. One of them was 'Teach India'.

The 'Teach India' campaign was launched on July 6, 2008, with the objective of providing education to the unprivileged children in India and eradicating illiteracy. The campaign was inspired by TOI's earlier initiative 'Lead India' launched in August 2007.
According to the feedback received from the 'Lead India' campaign, India would not be able to lead unless its populace was literate and that there was a need for citizens to come forward and contribute to the cause. It was for this purpose that the Teach India campaign was launched. The campaign was divided into two phases. The first phase invited citizens of the country to volunteer with a non-government organization (NGO) in their locality and spend two hours a week teaching underprivileged children. The second phase, which started at the end of 2008, selected students from top educational institutes all over the country who were willing to dedicate two years to teaching the underprivileged.

To execute the campaign, TOI tied up with select NGOs in the field of education in multiple cities across India. Corporations, schools, and social organizations also lent their support to the campaign. The campaign was promoted through print, television, online, outdoor and on-ground events. While the campaign won some of the most prestigious advertising awards, experts remained divided in their opinion on whether TOI had adopted a genuine approach to initiating social changes in India or whether it was just a marketing gimmick to enhance the brand image of the Times Group.

Issues:

» Understand various issues and challenges is social marketing.
» Study the social marketing campaigns launched by ToI and analyze whether ToI was successful in achieving the objectives of its campaigns.
» Understand the role of cause-related marketing in enhancing brand image.
» Explore ways to make the Teach India initiative could be made sustainable

Introduction

On December 16, 2009, leading Indian English daily The Times of India's (TOI) 'Teach India Let's Learn to Teach' (Teach India) campaign won the prestigious Grand Effie4 award for the Best Integrated Campaign of the Year.

The award was given to JWT India for successfully executing the campaign. On selecting the campaign for the award, a jury member said that it was "a truly outstanding campaign that drove a real sea change in social attitudes, 'Teach India' won the Grand Effie convincingly due to its boldness and creativity, delivering real cultural relevance and, above all, outstanding business results."6 Launched on July 6, 2008, by the Times Foundation, the corporate social responsibility (CSR) wing of The Times of India group, in association with United Nations Volunteers7(UNV), the Teach India campaign was a social initiative whose objective was to build the nation by improving literacy and providing education to the unprivileged children in India.

The idea behind the campaign was to bring together people who wanted to teach and those who wanted to learn. The campaign invited educated Indians to serve as volunteers and teach underprivileged children...

The 'Teach India' Campaign

Although the idea to launch the campaign was initiated in 2007, it took four months for TOI to develop the Teach India program. The campaign was launched on July 6, 2008. It was divided into two phases...

Results

According to the Times Group, the 'Teach India' campaign created a lot of buzz and within three weeks of the program being launched in July 2008, a total of 88,710 people had responded. Of these, 55,035 applied for the program...


PR CAMPAIGN

JAAGO RE



Agency: Integrated Brand-Comm Pvt. Ltd.
COMPANY PROFILE
brand-comm is a leading communications consultancy company in India with offices in 
seven cities (Bangalore, Delhi, Mumbai, Pune, Chennai, Kolkata and Hyderabad) and 
presence through affiliates in all Indian States. The agency offers a comprehensive and, 
where possible, integrated range of services across brand consulting, advertising, and public 
relations. In addition, it offers Integrated Talent Communications (Internal Communications) 
which assists companies in communicating with internal clients / employees to meet their HR 
objectives of retention.
The agency believes that experience and insights are the key to effective communication  –
this fact is demonstrated by their team, which consists of professionals who come from a
diverse background of communication practice areas. Together, they deliver value through
research-led insights and precision-led execution for clients representing a cross-section of
industry.
In less than a decade, brand-comm has created tremendous value for companies in industries
including Information Technology, Retail, Cement, Fashion & Apparel, Education,  Health
and FMCG.


„JAAGO RE! – ONE BILLION VOTES 
CAMPAIGN LAUNCHES THE “SHUT UP AND 
VOTE” CAMPAIGN
Campaign Summary:

Jaago Re! One Billion Votes is a non-partisan nationwide movement launched by
Janaagraha and Tata Tea to awaken and enable the citizens of India, especially the
youth, to register for voting. The mission is to register the entire of India (One Billion
Voters) for voting in the next 5 years, in order to better Indian democracy. The
campaign focuses on empowering the youth of India to lead this change.
In the launch year (2008 -09), the campaign is targeting urban voters in India’s top 35
cities, which represents one-third of India’s urban population. The campaign is
targeting to register 4 million voters before April 2009 elections. From next year
onwards, the campaign plans to target Tier 2 cities and eventually rural India.
Going beyond mass media messaging, Jaago Re! One Billion Votes seeks to address
the fundamental challenges in the process of voter registration which prevents
millions of Indians from registering as voters. The uniqueness of this campaign is the
way technology has been innovatively leveraged to simplify the voter registration
process. At the heart of the entire campaign is its website www.jaagore.com.
For the first time in India, www.jaagore.com brings to the citizens the following
facilities:
 An online registration engine linked to an interactive GIS application, which
helps anybody to fill their voter registration form within 5 minutes.

 After submitting details online, citizens can take a printout of their voter
registration form, and get driving directions with the help of a map to submit
the registration form to the designated official in their constituency.

 After dropping their forms, rather than chasing the system for confirmation,
www.jaagore.com sends periodic SMS and email updates to citizens
confirming them of their status, thereby handholding the voters until they are
eventually registered. The objective is to build a customer-service model (similar to what banking firms offer today) around the needs of a voter, by
integrating internet and mobile technologies.

 The campaign website has been created as a ONE STOP SHOP for all voting
and election related queries, election news and updates.
Tata Tea’s Jaago re! Advertising campaign for the current year (2008-09) will play a
significant role in spreading mass awareness on this campaign. The TVC delivers a
strong message to the youth on voting (Agar aap soyenge to desh kaise jagega!) and
directs them to the website www.jaagore.com to register for voting.

Jaago Re! One Billion Votes believes in empowering the youth of India to lead the
change, themselves. The campaign has a significant Outreach program covering 11
key cities. Beginning 1st November 2008, talks will be organized in more than 200 of
India’s largest colleges and companies, to spread the message of the campaign and
organizing ON THE SPOT voter registration drives, backed by the technology of the
campaign.
Outreach will be largely volunteer managed and will give opportunities to
Institutions and Individuals (especially youth) to make a difference in this campaign.
Each of these 200 institutions will play a leadership role in this campaign by
registering 100% of their students / employees for voting, and further conducting
drives in 5 more campuses. Each institution will setup a Jaago Re! One Billion Votes
chapter comprising of youth volunteers from within the institution, who are
passionate about leading the cause  of voter registration. Institutions who have
already committed their support include Infosys, Wipro, St. Xaviers Mumbai, St
Josephs Bangalore etc.
There are opportunities for NGOs as well to get involved in this campaign by
partnering in Outreach at a National, Regional or City level. PRIA (Participatory
Research in Asia) and LokSatta Aandolan are two NGOs who have already joined
the campaign as Outreach Partners.
Besides Outreach, there are several other ways in which corporates and media
houses can play an active role in promoting this campaign. Yahoo, Mid-Day group,
OnMobile, ACL Wireless, Map My India etc. are few corporates who have already
taken leadership in partnering this campaign.
It is a joint initiative of Janaagraha (a Bangalore based NGO working on urban
governance reforms) and Tata Tea Ltd. This partnership represents a unique tie-up
between the civil society and corporate sector to bring about large scale social
change.Most importantly, it’s the youth of India which is running this campaign. Out of the
10 member dedicated team from Janaagraha that is running this campaign, all of
whom are less than 30 yrs of age, five are alumni from IIT Madras. All of these youth
had voluntarily given up their private sector jobs to work dedicatedly on a cause
they believed in.
The campaign has an eminent Advisory Board which includes NR Narayanamurthy,
T S Krishnamurthy (ex Chief Election Commissioner of India), Rakeysh Mehra (Film
maker and Director, Rang de basanti) and Tariq Ansari (MD, Mid-Day group).
The campaign has been endorsed by the Election Commission of India.


Introduction:
Janaagraha and Tata Tea initiated the “Shut up and Vote Tour” campaign across the
country as part of their ongoing  Jaago Re! One Billion Votes campaign.  The
campaign aimed at leveraging the platform of music to encourage the youth to vote
and be the difference they seek.
The unique campaign witnessed rock shows by a pioneering Indian Rock Band  –
‘Thermal and a Quarter’ across 5 major cities viz Bangalore, Chennai, Kolkata, Delhi
and Mumbai during the last week of March.
A music video under the same name ‘Shut Up and Vote’ was also developed by the
Bangalore based Rock Band, Thermal and a Quarter. The video aims at highlighting
the importance of participation of youth in the electoral process in a language that
youth understand and associate with Music!
The five-city rock tour started in Chennai on March 20 and ended in Bangalore, the
headquarters of the campaign.
The Client: Janaagraha
Brand-comm’s client, Janaagraha, is a non-profit organization that works with
citizens and their governments to improve the quality of life in our cities and towns.
Since its foundation in 2001 by Swati and Ramesh Ramanathan, Janaagraha has
worked consistently to address issues of urban governance.
The campaign was a joint venture between Tata Tea and Jaanagraha, the Tata tea PR
was taken care of by Vaishnavi Communication.
Client Objectives:
The agency was approached by Janaagraha to initiate PR activities for the campaign.
The rationale behind the use of PR efforts was because, although the Jaago Re
campaign had already gained some mileage through its advertising campaign, PR
efforts were required to create visibility for the Rakesh Omprakash Mehra campaign
as well as the shut up and vote tour  in order to create awareness and to initiate
young voters to register.

The main objectives of the campaign were:
1. To ensure maximum number of voter registrations by making the process
easier.
2. To create a platform that will motivate the Indian youth to participate actively
in the electoral process of the country.
3. To have a far reaching and lasting impact on the future of the country, the
Indian youth. The strategy adopted for the same were twofold:
 First: to create visibility about the campaign itself through a media event,
where Rakesh Omprakash Mehra was roped in to visit various colleges across
the country.

 Secondly: through the launch of the Shut up and Vote tour by the band
‘Thermal and a Quarter’ through a press conference in Bangalore.

The campaigns roll out/process:
 Rakesh Ompraksah Mehra interacting in the colleges in Delhi and Chennai
about the importance of voting.
 Shut up and Vote tour launch press conference in Bangalore
 Shut up and Vote Tour in select cities (Bangalore, Chennai, Delhi, Kolkata,
Mumbai).
 Panel discussions, involving Rahul Bose and representatives from Tata Tea
and Janaagraha
In all these activities brand-comm played a considerable role in creating media
presence for the event, handling media at the event and translating them into
substantial coverage in both print and electronic media.
In the launch year (2008 -09), the campaign was targeting urban voters in India’s top
35 cities, which represents one-third of India’s urban population. The campaign is
targeting to register  4 million voters before April 2009 elections. From next year
onwards, the campaign plans to target Tier 2 cities and eventually rural India.
Jaago Re! One Billion Votes has been able to draw considerable attention to the
importance of voting, and provided a platform to facilitate voter registration. While
it is difficult to quantify the final impact, the fact that we enabled 6 lakh online voter
registrations itself makes this the most successful registration drive in Indian history.
For brand-comm the Jaago Re campaign was one of the most important PR
assignment. Through this PR campaign brand-comm could recognize its true
potential as a national PR agency as the campaign demanded consistent media
communication in 6 cities. To make such a huge campaign successful one must be
prepared for the challenges that come with it.
Some of the challenges which brand-comm had to face were:
 Frequent change of dates and venue for the events

 Last minute change for the spokesperson who was to be available for the
press gathering

 Shortcomings in the venue

 Logistic issues

brand-comm was able to overcome these challenges through smooth co-ordination
with the team handling the campaign and prompt decision making process. The
agency was also blessed with a competent team in each of the venues who were able
to handle crisis diligently.




Sunday, 3 April 2011

DIGITAL MEDIA


You may have heard of digital media, but you may have no idea what it is and how it can help you out when it comes to marketing. It's definitely important that you get up to speed so you can use this to benefit your business. Basically digital media refers to any type of electronic media out there. Today media can be accessed in many ways, including with hand held devices like mobile phones, laptops, desktops, mp3 players, and more.
Digital media must be stored in an electronic way, so there is a lot of digital content on the internet today, including text content, pictures, audio content, as well as video content. Through the history of internet, digital media has been developing in various ways. Here's we'll take a look at how it has affected the Internet and ways that it may be integrated moving forwards.
One type of digital media is text; this in fact represented the very first explosion of this type of content out there on the Internet. When the Internet first got big, there was an explosion of content on the web, especially with all the text editors and word processing options out there today. Larger companies started to put date on computers instead of storing it in cabinets, and the internet definitely allowed a great way to share, transfer, and store content as well.
As the Internet grew, images began to appear. Instead of just text emails, soon people could send photos, and soon photo sites for sharing photos began to pop up. Then in the middle 1990s, audio began to become an important part of digital media with the mp3 files that could be easily used. Soon music and more was shared online with sites that allowed you to share audio.
Last in the digital media development was video. YouTube definitely made video sharing a hugely popular form of modern media distribution, and this is continuing to grow as we speak today. Now with new technology seen in things like the iPhone, this new form of virtual media is available in handheld devices as well, and no doubt this sector is only going to continue to grow in the future.

Monday, 24 January 2011

NEW MEDIA

Online Communication

Online communications today is about forming connections, creating community, and organizing action in previously unimaginable ways.
Blogs, celebrity web sites and search engines are contemporaries
Video conferencing, E-mails, chat rooms etc.

Advantages 
Communication-from one place to another corner of the world
Information-any kind of news data etc
Entertainment-Movie ,songs & games download
Services- World Wide Web,Telnet ,Electronic Mail, FTP - File Transfer Protocol, Chat, Newsgroups
E-Commerce- buying and selling of products or services over electronic systems

Disadvantages
Theft of Personal information-Internet Banking
Spamming- sending unwanted e-mails in bulk
Virus threat-trojen, Melissa.A
Pornography-Portrayal of explicit content

Features Of Online Communication
E Mails-Electronic Mail, Unique name that consist of user name and domain name that identifies users.   E.g.- kartik_arora@gmail.com
Chat rooms-Typed conversation that takes place on a computer,Yahoo messenger,Gtalk etc
Community websites- A virtual community is a social network of individuals who interact through specific media  
    Facebook,twitter,orkut hi5
Blogs-Regular updated journal format to reflect interest or opinion of the author
Newsgroups-Online area where users discuss a particular subject
Websites-It is a collection of related web pages
E Papers-Electronic newspaper

ISP
Short for Internet Service Provider, it refers to a company that provides Internet services, including personal and business access to the Internet. For a monthly fee, the service provider usually provides a software package, username, password and access phone number. Equipped with a modem, you can then log on to the Internet and browse the World Wide Web and USENET, and send and receive e-mail. For broadband access you typically receive the broadband modem hardware or pay a monthly fee for this equipment that is added to your ISP account billing.
In addition to serving individuals, ISPs also serve large companies, providing a direct connection from the company's networks to the Internet. ISPs themselves are connected to one another through Network Access Points (NAPs). ISPs may also be called IAPs (Internet Access Providers).
Internet
The term Internet has been coined from two terms, i.e., interconnection and network. A network is simply a group of computers that are connected together for sharing information and resources. Several such networks have been joined together across the world toform what is called as the Internet.
The Internet comprises thousands of local area networks, groups of computers including government supercomputers, campus-wide information systems, local area networks and individual workstations.
Internet Society (ISOC) defines Internet as a ‘global network of networks’ enabling computers of all kinds to directly and transparently communicate and share services throughout the world using a common communication protocol.
There exists a set of rules which governs the the sending and receiving of data on the Internet .
These rules are implemented in two parts in the network software and are called Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) and Internet Protocol (IP).
These two are collectively called TCP/IP. For sending large block of text/data to another machine, TCP divides the data into little data packets. It also adds special information e.g. the packet position, error correction code etc.
To make sure that packets at the destination can be reassembled correctly and without any damage to data. The role of IP here is to put destination addressing information on such packets
Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP)-The Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) is a set of rules for exchanging files (text, graphic images, sound, video, and other multimedia files) on the World Wide Web
HTTP defines how browsers request web pages from servers and how servers transfer web pages to clients i.e., in essence it defines the interaction between the web client and the web server.
HTTP request messages for the objects in the page to the server. The server receives the requests and responds with HTTP response messages that contain the objects.
File Transfer Protocol (FTP)-FTP is a standard Internet protocol. It is the simplest way to exchange files between computers on the Internet.
FTP is commonly used to transfer web page files from their creator to the computer that acts as their server for everyone on the Internet.
Each host computer on the Internet has its own unique address. To identify a host on the Internet, three addressing systems have been evolved: A numerical system called IP addressing, a hierarchical naming system called the Domain Name System, and an addressing system called URLs, which are used for identifying sites on the web.
IP address: Each computer has a unique numerical address, such as 202.54.26.82
Domain name: Each computer must have a unique name, such as www.iitd.ac.in
Uniform Resource Locator: Address of file(s) to be accessible from a host computer