Vodafone Cycling Marathon 2015 rides on Bengaluru's OOH landscape

Vodafone Cycling Marathon 2015, held in Bengaluru on March 1, drew widespread participation of cycling enthusiasts in the city. The event, recognised by Cycle Federation of India (CFI) and supported by Bengaluru City Traffic Police, was conceived to ignite the spirit of cycling for passion, fun and greener environment in the city of Bengaluru across all age groups.  
 
To build awareness of the event, which was into its second year, Vodafone launched a 360 degree campaign in the city that included an impactful 45-day OOH campaign. Leading OOH firm Kinetic India handled the OOH campaign duties with great success.

The OOH campaign started in mid-January 2015 and ended in the first week of March 2015.  More than 1 lakh sq. ft of OOH space was used to create buzz and generate interest in the event. 100+ high impact billboard in strategic locations were used for promotion.

Kinetic India selected important and strategic footfalls/traffic locations, key arterial roads which are the lifelines of the city, corporate hubs catering to IT sector employees, major residential apartments and corridors and important connecting routes between the city's IT hubs, CBD, and shopping malls for the campaign. The OOH firm used billboards, boom barriers, bus branding media, medians on the road, and a digital screen to create high visibility for the event.

The campaign was divided into four parts -- Promote, Amplify, Sustain and Follow-on. Kinetic India strategically used innovations to build excitement around the event. For instance, during the Amplify part of the campaign, the Boom Barrier in the parking lot of Orion Mall was branded with Cycling Marathon 2015 registration details which ensured 100% visibility among all the visitors to the mall.

In the Sustenance part of the campaign, the only LED screen in Bengaluru was branded with cycling characters around it. The screen ran stills of Vodafone creatives and videos throughout the day. On the top of the screen a special back-lit box placement reading "Registration closing down” was created which became an instantaneous point of reference among the TG ensuring increased registration.

Commenting on the campaign, Atanu Batabyal, Business Head - Karnataka, Vodafone India, said:   "Bengaluru has always sported a cycling culture but it has got diluted over the years. With the aim to encourage all age groups to take up cycling we have undertaken this initiative of Vodafone Cycling Marathon to provide a platform for adapting a healthy and eco-friendly lifestyle. Out of the 360 degree media mix, OOH today is an important and strategic element of our media mix, primarily because of four key attributes of innovativeness, flexibility, coverage and impact. The recent campaign execution by Kinetic India has met our expectations.”

Avnish Deodia, Marcom Head - Karnataka, Vodafone India, said; "OOH played a big part in promoting the Vodafone Cycling Marathon 2015. The campaign objective was to identify and cover strategic catchments in order to maximise reach within the TG and raise participation. The phased roll-out of the campaign enabled the campaign to garner desired level of registration and share of voice among the TG.”

On the campaign execution, Amit Sarkar, COO Kinetic India, said: "We were delighted to be associated with Vodafone Cycling Marathon 2015 which was in its 2nd edition. Our motto was to bring in customised experiential solutions for the brand through a deep understanding of today's consumer needs and this coupled with innovations added to the scale and wow factor. The campaign was executed in four phases to build impact and reach. We look forward to the continued exciting association with Vodafone.”

Pertinent to note that the proceeds generated through registrations for the event were shared with India Cares at a separate event to support their work done towards the cause of environment, child education and women welfare.