Why the world loves HUL's 'Kan Khajura Tesan' initiative

Lowe Lintas' Anaheeta Goenka talks about what sets apart the much-feted initiative from all other marketing initiatives, and calls it “a platform, not a campaign”

Jagadeesh Krishnamurthy | Mumbai | March 2, 2015

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Hindustan Unilever's 'Kan Khajura Tesan' has been recently named the world's best marketing campaign, according to global marketing intelligence service Warc. The mobile-led initiative was developed for HUL by Lowe Lintas and PHD.

The Kan Khajura Tesan (KKT) initiative started as a missed-call marketing-led initiative, which went on to garner mass reach in the hinter-land markets of Bihar and Jharkhand in the initial stages. Over the past few months, the Hindi-language service has been extended to cover almost all parts of the country. All that people need to do is give a missed call to the dedicated number – 1800 3000 0123 – to receive a call back from Kan Khajura Tesan with pre-programmed content that consists of popular local music, HUL advertising spots, jokes and an RJ hosting the show.

Pointing out that KKT is not a regular marketing campaign, Anaheeta Goenka, Executive Director, Lowe Lintas, explained, “This is unlike any time-bound marketing campaign. It has just been a year, and this is a sustainable and long-term platform that has been developed for Hindustan Unilever.”

Elaborating on the thought process and the future plans for the initiative, Goenka noted that it was a consumer-centric invention and was being considered as a media brand. “We are looking at promoting Kan Khajura Tesan just like media brands, where we are still in the consumer acquisition mode. We are reaching out to more listeners, and the advantage we now have is that most of our new listeners are coming through word of mouth.”

HUL informed that KKT received calls from around 30 million people, and generated nearly 200 million ad impressions (the number of times callers hear the company's ad) and there has been a consumption of around 500 million minutes of content.

Highlighting that the cultural relevance of the content has added to the listenership base, Goenka added, “People are now calling in weekly for their on-demand entertainment. Based on our research, we update the content on Monday mornings, and we now have people tuning in week after week.”

Answering a question about the kind of audience tuning in weekly, Goenka explained, “The service is for an audience which is at the bottom of the pyramid, and getting them to press 1,2,3 buttons often is something that will put them off the medium. We are looking at it as an entertainment medium and not as an informational medium, and as a result, segmentation of audience using the service is difficult.”

When asked about restricting the content to Hindi, even for regions in South India, she explained, “We are actually reaching the media-dark areas of India. South India cannot be considered in that bracket, with television penetration even in double digits. This is a solution for a consumer who has limited access to entertainment. Currently, the team is also evaluating on the way to effectively tap the North-East Indian region.”

View a film on the Kan Khajura Tesan initiative:

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