Money4Drive urges ULBs to leverage Swachh Bharat promotion budget for Covid-19 prevention campaign

Indore-based Money4Drive Advertising has mooted the idea of extending the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan for launching public awareness building on Covid-19 prevention. Such campaigns would not only raise public awareness of the pre-cautions to be taken to avoid the viral infection but also provide a lease of life to the advertising and publicity industry. Tilkesh Bhatia, Co-Founder of the company, said the budgets allocated to the urban local bodies (ULBs) under the Swachh Bharat programme could be utilised for launching the awareness campaigns.

The Swachh Bharat programme, launched in 2014, was widely publicised through OOH and other media channels that include wall murals and hoardings, digital media, and cinema. Tilkesh suggests that the campaign should be launched before the lockdown is lifted, particularly in cities with high incidence of Covid-19 cases.

The media owning company is currently in talks with the Nagar Nigam in Indore and is approaching municipal corporations in Rajasthan, Gujarat, and Chhattisgarh where they are looking to work as an agency and help regional media owners to gain business.

“We don’t foresee a business recovery for the next 2-3 months as it is challenging to get clients on board,” he said, while reiterating that awareness campaigns launched by the municipal corporations would greatly ease the financial pressure building on OOH firms.