The Campaign

We found that reminders of Sugar is one of the main things that fuels our love of sugar – it’s everywhere in Sri Lanka – including our songs. So, on World Diabetes Day, we became the World’s first Sugar Free Radio! We did this by taking mainstream English songs that carried sugary-lyrical reminders and disrupting them with our very own Diabetes warning.

Creative Execution

We executed the idea on TNL Radio during the entirety of World Diabetes Day. In this regard, we employed a strategy of taking every mainstream song that had a sugary-lyrical reminder and disrupting them live on the air, throughout the entire day. That accounted to most of our songs as sweet lyrics are a mainstay in mainstream radio songs. TNL Radio is a national radio network and its scale of reach spreads to every part of the country on the islandwide frequency of 101.8. What’s more, its live stream also ensures that the station is also heard in any part of the globe.

Results

We reached 1.5 million listeners on World Diabetes Day! The scale of social media impressions that were garnered on the day, was testament of this fact. Furthermore, a number of medical professionals also came out appreciating our efforts towards triggering a lifestyle change rather than using an approach that did nothing, further assisting them in their day-to-day endeavors. With Sugar Free Radio, we were able to sustain the conversation about Diabetes beyond its awareness day – the first time that has ever happened!

It is relevant because this campaign was purely medium-driven which generated direct audience responses. It employed creativity in the use of the radio medium, rather than functioning independently of it, such as a spot or endorsement. Even the name ‘Sugar Free Radio’ entails the reference to the entire medium of radio, rather than a part or a particular function it. This way, the campaign was made stronger and more effective in terms of reach and disruption in communicating our message about Diabetes awareness.

Our strategy entailed executing a campaign that engaged and interested our listeners on World Diabetes Day rather than one that was restricted to strictly informative and uninteresting segments and interviews that made people ignore them altogether – which is usually the practice with Sri Lankan media on the day. Our target audience consists of a large cross section of listeners from all age groups and categories as TNL is not only a contemporary music station, but also Sri Lanka’s first privately owned Radio channel. Our media plan was to play at least 3 censored-songs an hour, getting people’s attention and with it, delivering important information about Diabetes to drive our message home. Before the launch of our campaign, we also ran a teaser campaign that generated significant buzz and made listeners tune in on the day.