Why is this work relevant for Brand Experience & Activation?

Kumbh Festival is unique as it is a massive gathering of both rural and urban population that travel from across the country. With the influx of many brands at this festival, it was important to demonstrate value while engaging people at such a mass scale. The Chiranjeev Hriday (Long Live Heart) campaign at Kumbh did just that. It gave the visitors an experience of supporting a noble cause of learning a lifesaving skill at a holy gathering. The campaign converged online and offline initiatives and created an emotional connection between Medtronic and visitor by aligning the activity with the festival.

Describe any restrictions or regulations regarding Healthcare/RX/Pharma communications in your country/region including:

Indian Drugs & Magic Remedies Act bars advertising of medical products. Companies can only educate public-at-large on disease or therapy awareness. Under the Medical Council of India Guidelines, a physician cannot use his personal details for promotion or endorsement of any drug or device except awareness of diseases and therapies.

Describe the target audience and why your work is relevant to them.

First responders such as police, fire department, hospital paramedics/ER staff, volunteers of Kumbh, monks, media and visitors. Chiranjeev Hriday campaign drove a positive narrative during the turbulent phase of negative media spotlight on the industry with a drive to improve awareness of the life-saving Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation.

Background

Sudden Cardiac Arrest (SCA) is a serious public health issue in India causing around 700,000 deaths annually. This is further complicated by the general lack of public awareness. Life-saving techniques like Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation (CPR) are nascent across India as 98% Indians are unaware of CPR and fail to act in emergencies. This is the gap that needs to be addressed by educating the first responders and public on recognizing SCA symptoms and perform hands-only CPR. Kumbh presented an ideal platform for educating the target audience, with congregation of millions gathering over 7 weeks. Anyone could become a hero by saving an SCA victim’s life in a public place by learning CPR. Chiranjeev Hriday served objectives of increasing SCA and CPR awareness at the grassroots level, making Kumbh attendees - brand ambassadors of CPR and positioning Medtronic as a leader, committed to transforming healthcare in India through its India-focused approach.

Describe the creative idea (20% of vote)

When millions from rural and urban places congregate at one place over seven weeks, the opportunity provides massive reach and unique visibility for brands. This was the first time that a medical technology company has executed an immersive public awareness campaign at Kumbh Festival- world’s largest human gathering. The campaign messaging was deployed using traditional entertainment and modern technology to spread awareness about SCA and CPR and used this positive story-telling opportunity to counter the negative media stories, manage reputation, connect with attendees, be it police personnel, civic staff, pilgrims or ash-smeared monks. The idea was to reach out to the target audience at Kumbh during the 23 days of the campaign and capture every hotspot of the 18 sq km area of the festival to give them an engaging experience with the use of dummies for training, street plays, jingles, CPR Express, branding on boats and CPR Guru.

Describe the strategy (20% of vote)

Target audience was the First responders such as police, fire department, hospital paramedics/ER staff, volunteers and management of Kumbh, monks, media and visitor from socioeconomic class B, C and D. With a limited budget, the approach had to be extremely targeted to educate the target audience through an immersive experience. Kumbh is a challenging platform to work on, with multiple brands running activations on ground. It was critical to create a differentiated campaign with a creative design and delivery. We executed 10 strategic partnerships to amplify the campaign message and conduct CPR trainings. Since majority of the visitors were from areas with low literacy rates; jingles, street plays, and rallies were the most effective mediums to drive attendees to the CPR camps. Local and national newspapers, news sites and local TV channels were engaged to carry CPR training during a press conference. The message was amplified on social media channels.

Describe the execution (30% of vote)

The campaign was executed during 10 Feb 2019 to 4 Mar 2019 in English and Hindi, with the tools and initiatives like: - Partnerships with government, spiritual and educational institutions - CPR Express, toured the Kumbh festival premises playing campaign jingle over loudspeakers - Team of 6 street performers enacted a skit based on an info-taining script on SCA and CPR trainings - All training participants were awarded a certificate - Campaign branded Boats were used to demonstrate CPR - CPR Baba (CPR Guru) emphasized on the importance of CPR training - Print and broadcast journalists were given CPR training demo - Social media campaign ran on the organization’s channels for over 20 days - Hoardings and posters used at different spots through the 18 sq km area - Public rally with the use of campaign branded shirts, caps, campaign flags and banners

List the results (30% of vote)

Chiranjeev Hriday campaign generated a large footprint with: - 10 million people reached - 10 partnerships - 2.3 million social media impressions - 7,900+ people trained including first responders - $75,000 PR Value of media coverage The campaign lived up to its purpose - To enhance social awareness of CPR through which anyone can be a Hero. Through the campaign Medtronic encouraged discussion on CPR at homes, workplaces, amongst the healthcare industry and media across India. The idea was to compel people to seek information, get trained on CPR and save a life in the event of a sudden cardiac arrest incidence. This initiative has set-off a chain reaction with many instances showing up across India of lives saved with CPR. The Special Advisor for Kumbh festival for the Government of India recognized Medtronic’s efforts and emphasized that the campaign had touched the masses on a noble cause.