Shortage of power is perhaps one of the most common issues faced by the rural interiors of the country. And despite a majority of rural India still living in the ‘dark’ not all energy products manufacturers have attempted to market themselves in the segment. The reason being their unwillingness to experiment amplified due to the poor infrastructure in the rural areas. However, Greenlight Planet a five year old start up  achieved the mighty unachievable by successfully marketing themselves in the rural through their “Adding Light to Life” campaign.



Often termed as one of the most inspiring campaigns to have ever catered to the rural market, the “Adding Light to Life Campaign” by Greenlight Planet not only changed the lives of people in 1600 villages but also earned the Flame Award for Best Direct Marketing Campaign of the Year. The campaign, which was executed by Group M, was showcased as part of a special case study on the second day of the Rural Conclave 2015 organized by Rural Marketing Association of India.



Saphallya Misra of Group M began the session by highlighting the current situation of villages in the country. He said-“An interesting fact among the rural community of the country is that they mainly want to use local assets, resources and networks to support their overall living and hence we had to think of a unique concept that connects with them in the same fashion and has the same feel to it.” Saphallya further explained that the first step of the campaign began with taking every house in consideration and inculcating the value of “Har Ghar” as the crux of the campaign.



“The experiential connect in the campaign was added at multiple levels as we hired local advocates for the brand who visited all the neighborhoods and provided educational demos to promote the product. To expand the products marketing reach the Chota and Bada Bazars of the rural India were also targeted through live demos of products at the market and using loudspeakers to convey the key features of the product“-he added.



Saphallya Misra also spoke about another interesting feature of the campaign which was a “School Connect Program”; wherein school teachers and principals were asked to promote the product over the use of kerosene lamps which were increasingly harmful for heath. Speaking about it he said, “The School Connect Program of the campaign was added to the campaign as school teachers and authorities are always respected more in rural areas and are treated with more respect. Their word of advice matters a lot for the community.”



Another interesting highlight of the marketing campaign was village branding which was done through using bicycles, gumtis, tea stalls, local transportation, and community radio station programs. Apart from the brand technological integration was also done with call centers numbers were distributed and a mobile application was also developed.



6000 people from the rural were hired as entrepreneurs for the brand to sell the products in their communities and earn a respectable living through the same. As a result of the overall campaign the sales of Greenlight Planet grew by 130% and the marketing story of the brand in rural India emerged as one to be inspired from.