MUMBAI: Inspiration comes from anywhere and everywhere. Around the same time last year, a few new recruits in Godrej were going through the company’s archives when they discovered that the Godrej’s founding fathers were part of some historical Indian moments. To disseminate the information across the influencers of the country, Godrej celebrated its 118th year of its existence through various mediums, which included special programming on radio.

Godrej Group Strategic Marketing COO Shireesh Joshi said, “We had the notion to run an initiative on 7 May for a while. We wanted to narrate stories about our organisation, culture and innovations. It was last year that it occurred to us and kept that in mind until March this year. In March, we decided to run an initiative through various mediums.”

A message was communicated across-radio, social media and TV channels, which was based on the theme ‘Shaping the Future…since 1897’; the brand’s birthday. The message highlighted innovations that have shaped the future since 1897.

With radio stations like Big FM, Radio One, Radio City and Fever FM, the brand explored the opportunity to reach influencers in cities like Mumbai and Delhi. Godrej carried out a multi channel radio block in both cities, which included seven hours of customised content, co-curated by radio stations and the brand, including an hour-long interview with Adi Godrej. “Radio channels were willing to co-curate the content along with us; I think it has lot to do with the stature of Godrej. Adi Godrej’s radio interview was really exciting as featuring on radio was something new. It was the first time he came on mainstream radio,” Joshi said. The brand claimed that it reached out to 8.7 million listeners, all with compelling stories surrounding the brand.

There were around 15 planned interviews conducted by popular RJs of the station. It included top management to new recruits. There was radio advertising along with seamless programming on the brand’s history. Through that Godrej reached out to listeners aged 25 and over. When quizzed about its synergy with a retro station like Big FM, Joshi said, “Connecting with Big FM was pretty similar to other stations. It helped us reach out to audiences of 35 years and above through retro content. We do not see any conflict as a brand.” According to a case study carried out for the anniversary celebration, through radio Godrej touched over 4 million listeners between the age group of 25 and 44. On-air radio activities were also integrated seamless on social media.  

The brand blocked slots only on TV and radio channels. “We spent most on TV channels while other mediums were a small fraction. Radio was limited to only two cities, so we cannot compare radio with national TV channels,” Joshi added.

He also added that radio is a localised medium and he believes that it is a terrific medium. “In the future, we might explore the option of running a campaign only on-radio,” concluded Joshi.  

Godrej had also come up with a 'Tweet a Tune' initiative, in which digital conversations of consumers were picked up, and were then turned into a song by select musicians and bands. It brought on board 13 independent music acts in the country for the project.