The Brief

Every year local volunteers would complain about the lack of interest and the problems they faced in convincing adults to join our literacy program. We realized, It is difficult to change human behavior especially of those who are not open to it. So, to bring illiterate adults to school we decided to do something unconventional but relevant. The objective of the promotion was to give this group of uninterested adults the first taste of how much fun learning could be. And thus give impetus to our local volunteers.

Describe how the promotion developed from concept to implementation

It is difficult to change human behavior especially of those who are not open to it. So, to bring illiterate adults to school we decided to do something unconventional but relevant. A transparent sheet with cut-outs of the alphabets of Hindi (devanagari script) was placed on top of a regular ink pad. This allowed illiterate individuals to print their name. With the help of local volunteers armed with the ink pad we conducted a door-to-door activation and encouraged people to enroll for the adult literacy program. And turned the symbol of illiteracy- the thumb imprint into a tool to write.

Describe the success of the promotion with both client and consumer including some quantifiable results

As expected, the ink pad helped our volunteers to grab the attention of the otherwise uninterested target group of illiterate adults and helped us convert their unwillingness to learn into a desire to learn. With just 8 local volunteers, Door Step School saw a huge 600% increase in the recruitment for the 2011 adult literacy program. The success of the campaign has encouraged the NGO to carry on the activity in other cities and set up more camps for their 2012 program.

Explain why the method of promotion was most relevant to the product or service

In India, if you can write your name, you are literate. Even with such a simple definition, 40% of the country is illiterate. The reason behind such low literacy rate is the lack of will in adults to learn. When it comes to signing on official documents thumb impression is a common alternative for this group. Thus, over a period of time the thumb impression has become a symbol of illiteracy in India. We used this symbol of illiteracy to entice our target group through the ink pad and encouraged them to join our literacy program.