Taj Initiative

A BIT OF BACKGROUND

I Media Corp (IMCL— is a DB Corp Ltd media enterprise providing integrated internet and mobile interactive services), was appointed the exclusive media and marketing partners of the N7W (new 7 wonders of the world) campaign. The objective was to generate a minimum of 300 million votes, either through SMS to the special short code- 54567 or through Internet via the IMCL portal, www.dainikbhaskargroup.com, within the period March to the 7th of July, 2007.

THE CHALLENGE

The New7Wonders Foundation, which was behind the New 7 Wonders campaign, aimed at initiating a mass drive to get citizens of the world to understand and appreciate their heritage under the motto: "Our Heritage Is Our Future."

In the endeavour to live up to its motto, the New7Wonders Foundation short-listed a total of 21 monuments from across the world, and The Taj Mahal was India's short-list. In order to get to the final 7, the foundation mobilized the world's biggest ever voting poll, by asking each and every citizen across the world to vote for their 7 favourite monuments.

The voting mediums were:

a) The official website www.new7wonders.com .

b) Country specific website, e.g. India — www.dainikbhaskargroup.com .

c) Other mediums, e.g. India, SMS “TAJ” to 54567 and landline toll-free numbers.

Besides being considered an architectural marvel, the Taj Mahal is also a heritage symbol in the minds of not just every Indian, but foreigners as well. Hence the challenge was to ensure that The Taj Mahal entered the elite final list of New 7 Wonders of the World.

IMCL, the official Indian partner of The New7Wonders Foundation, initiated a nationwide campaign to gather as many votes as possible to win The Taj Mahal its rightful place amongst the final New 7 Wonders of the World.

CAMPAIGN OBJECTIVES

To make The Taj Mahal one amongst the New 7 wonders of the World.

To attain 30 million votes during the campaign period

Use the Global event to enhance the brand image of the Brand and create a high-value non-paid media campaign. Take a leap on Brand association on National level.

Use the GLOBAL EVENT to ride the nationalistic feeling and get additional PR for the brand.

TARGET AUDIENCE

Everyone who is proud to be an Indian.
Everyone who is proud of India’s rich culture and heritage.
Every Indian who stands up to defend and protect the nation's pride.
Every Indian who understands and appreciates The Taj Mahal, its rich heritage and what it stands for.

CREATIVE STRATEGY

India, a nation with its variety in religion, caste and culture has always come together in times of need, especially when it's a matter of 'Us against the World' — e.g. Kargil, Tsunami, and the eradication of polio, to name a few.

For the Taj to be amongst the final 7, it was important for us to create that sense of cause, communicate it effectively and rekindle pride and unity amongst millions of Indians. We had to make every Indian realize the importance of this voting exercise — to ensure the Taj Mahal retained its place amongst the final 7. And we had to drive home the understanding of what it would mean to Indians and their country if they did not vote to make this happen.

Keeping the above need in mind, the proposition was crafted as: 'Defend our pride'.

The creative worked at tugging at the pride factor in every Indian. It reminded every Indian what their one vote could mean to the nation.

The creative idea therefore was 'Daav par hai bharat ka sammaan. Kijiye Taj ke liye matdaan'(On Stake is India's Dignity—.save the grace, Vote for TAJ).

A movement as big as this voting poll needed an emotionally-strong anthem to give it that sense of scale and magnitude. For this, we roped in the musical genius of A.R.Rehman, to compose a special Anthem for the Taj. The anthem was then made in to a music video. It became an excellent support to the other mainline communications that were done on TV, Print etc.

OTHER COMMUNICATION PROGRAMMES

Presentations to Corporate for sponsorships.
Autorickshaw branding in small towns.

MEDIA STRATEGY

Broadcast media — TV was used for mass penetration and to create that emotional tug

Print media — a mix of English and Vernacular dailies. Used as an aggressive tool to convey the importance of this cause and acquaint Indians with the mode of voting.

Interactive/online — Used as the medium of voting. Also ran promos to encourage people to get their friends and relatives to vote. Also developed a countdown window reminding everyone to act immediately as the time was running out.

Out of home — Hoardings for visibility.

Events/PR — Launched the campaign with an unveiling of the Taj Anthem composed specially by A. R. Rehman performing at a mega event in Mumbai.

EVIDENCE OF RESULTS

• The brand got PR coverage worth Rs 67 cr ( $ 16.75 million ).
• TAJ was listed in the New7wonder list.
• Created a record of generating more than 60 lakh sms on a single keyword on 6th July 2007.
• Media associates and companies took on themselves to create the push- resulting in high buzz — image and word of mouth publicity.
• Got Indians to come together once again for a cause.