The Campaign

Animal Planet needed to create an emotional connect with Indian millennial – youth - the empowered audience segment to raise awareness about richness and diversity of wildlife in the country. ‬ The PR objective was to establish distinct identity of channel as the only channel devoted to preservation of wildlife in the country. The campaign, if successful, would help make awareness about the importance and preservation of wildlife in the country. Eventually, it would also help increase brand reputation.

The Brief

‬Animal Planet needed to create an emotional connect with Indian millennial – youth - the empowered audience segment to raise awareness about richness and diversity of wildlife in the country. The PR objective was to establish distinct identity of channel as the only television brand devoted to preservation of wildlife in the country. The campaign, if successful, would help make awareness about the importance and preservation of wildlife in the country.

Results

1. The programme was watched by 4.6 mn viewers on air (Source: TAM, CS4+ & CS15+AB, All India, Wk 30-33 & Wk 34 – 37 2013, 2100 – 2200 Hrs, Reach 000s, channel: Animal Planet) 2. One of the most impactful campaigns on the Independence Day theme, Animal Planet’s Yeh Mera India garnered over 250 press articles nationwide and rave reviews from influencers. 3. Besides generating buzz on social media, the anthem was downloaded by over 0.5 million viewers as mobile ringtone. 4. The anthem had 62,000 views on Youtube.

Execution

1. The campaign was launched through sending the DVDs of the programme and animal anthem to media along with the press release. 2. The channel leveraged popularity of Bollywood music icons – Salim and Sulaiman to make connect with larger audience and spread the message of richness of wildlife in India. Telephonic interactions of anthem singers with organised with media across various cities. 3. A social media initiative also began on social media through Facebook, Twitter and YouTube targeted the youth of the country. A dedicated YouTube channel was launched for the Yeh Mera India Animal Anthem and utilising the organic route, the video got more than 62,000 views. 4. The channel also reached out to schools and other influence groups like wildlife enthusiasts and bodies to gain their interest towards Animal Planet’s initiative. 5. Celebrity endorsement message videos were shared with press.

The Situation

Animal Planet is India’s most popular wildlife television brand. The channel wanted to celebrate the splendour of great Indian wild and aimed to connect the audience with it, putting a spotlight on its importance and preservation.

The Strategy

Considering the importance of 15th August, the Independence Day of India and its national appeal, Animal Planet launched a thematic campaign celebrating the wildlife of the country. The channel created a special programming hour at 9 pm, dedicated to Indian wildlife, titled Yeh Mera India. The one-month programming line-up rejoiced the iconic wildlife, epic terrains and colourful natural beauty of the county. The programming band Yeh Mera India was launched through a multi-lingual animal anthem on 15th August. To connect with wider audience of the country, Animal Planet got on board popular Bollywood singers and artists to sing the animal anthem and to send out the message of animal freedom. Collaborating visuals of spectacular Indian wildlife with thematic lyrics, the unique anthem was composed in three most spoken languages in the country - Hindi, Tamil and Bengali. The anthem created national sensation and was publicised through Indian press and it went viral for over a month.