Dell: "BRINGING HEROES TO LIFE!" Promo / PR Ad by Mediacom

Category: Best Use of Branded Content
Advertiser: DELL INDIA
Product/Service: IT HARDWARE MANUFACTURER
Date of First Appearance: Mar 1 2009 12:00AM
Entrant Company: MEDIACOM, Bangalore, INDIA
Managing Director: Divya Gururaj (MediaCom)
General Manager: Anita Mookerjee (MediaCom)
Business Group Head: Sujit Dora (MediaCom)
Senior Manager Implementation: Srihari Ramakrishnappa (MediaCom)
Executive: Hareesh S (MediaCom)
Senior Manager: Ankesh Bansal (MediaCom)
Business Group Head: Prem Anand (MediaCom)
Associate Director: Arvind Kopali (Bloomberg UTV)
Executive: Anna Mathew (Bloomberg UTV)
Media placement: Dailies - 20 Leading Dailies Including Times Of India, Economic Times, Mirror & Business S - 01 March 2009 - 5 May 2009
Media placement: Magazines - Leading Titles Including India Today, The Week, Business Today - 01 March 2009 - 28 March 2009
Media placement: TV Promotions - Various Leading Channels Including CNN, CNBC, UTVi, NDTV & HBO - 6 April 2009 - 30 June 2009
Media placement: Branded Content Series - UTVi - 20 April 2009
Media placement: Press Conferences - Press Conferences For Super Achievers - 4 May 2009 - 26 August 2009
Media placement: Business Plan Episode - UTVi - 25 May 2009 - 29 July 2009
Media placement: Business Excellence Awards - UTVi + Online Entry Microsite + Winner Announcement - 01 March 2009 - 23 March 2009

Results and Effectiveness
Dell’s message made an immediate impact. In four weeks Top of Mind increased by eight points and usage of Dell products went up by 12%. More than 15,000 entered our awards competition - 15 times the expected participation levels; 10,000 visited our microsite. Awareness increased by 45% and consideration for Dell’s small business products has doubled. Sales increased by 10%, doubling market share in the SME sector. For the first time in seven years Dell is number 1 in the commercial & consumer business category, toppling HP. This campaign is now being rolled out in nine other markets.

Creative Execution
We partnered with Bloomberg UTV and created an interactive journey for consumers. Via a content-driven series of messages that lived on and off TV, we got entrepreneurs to talk about their success and how Dell got them there. The message was “if we can do it, so can you”. The communication was arranged in 3 stages: Stage 1: A high profile, editorially led, six-part series investigating the stories of Dell’s top entrepreneurial heroes during primetime. Stage 2: We created a Dell “Business Excellence Awards” where budding entrepreneurs were invited to write business plans judged by the Dell heroes. Stage 3: Dell heroes and Award winners took their ideas and Dell’s message to business schools across the country via mentoring workshops. The series was promoted via business dailies/magazines, B2B web portals, outdoor, and promos on UTV. Dell was positioned throughout the whole campaign as the perfect partner for business growth.

Insights, Strategy & the Idea
Dell was in trouble in India. Conventional advertising was not working and share in the small business sector was falling steadily, a real problem as SMEs accounted for 60% of sales. Despite these challenges, current Dell SME customers were very loyal and maintained long-term relationships the brand. We realised that these customers were the best advocates for Dell. Our insight was that entrepreneurs are heroes in India. Their stories could become the perfect platform for Dell to prove its value to India’s small business sector. However, in a country where consumers are bombarded by celebrity endorsements, our heroes would have to do more than just appear in adverts. Our strategy was to leverage Dell’s happy customers by getting them to actively talk about how Dell had been part of their entrepreneurial success. We recruited a dream team of successful entrepreneurs and put their stories at the heart of our campaign.