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Home » Viewpoints » Outdoor is an ideal media for social communications: Leela Sampangi

Outdoor is an ideal media for social communications: Leela Sampangi

By M4G Bureau - October 11, 2014

Karnataka State AIDS Prevention Society (KSAPS) uses a mix of outdoor formats to connect with the target audiences in the urban and rural sectors

Addressing a session on how the outdoor can be an effective vehicle for social communications, Leela Sampangi, Joint Director, Karnataka State AIDS Prevention Society (KSAPS), spoke about the challenges that the organisation faced. Spreading awareness about AIDS at the grassroots level was the primary agenda.  Leela said during the course of her address at the Karnataka Talks OOH! conference held in Bangalore on October 9 that outdoor advertising has played a major role in spreading this awareness.

Villages in Karnataka have a major electricity problem. Therefore the AIDS prevention society reduced its mass media budget and invested in outdoor advertising, which is more appealing. Literacy rate in villages is low and print media is definitely not a good option for spreading awareness. So the officials opted for options like wall paintings, auto rickshaw branding, auto rickshaw speakers, street plays and door-to-door campaigning. The hoardings or wall paintings were mostly pictorial representations for easy understanding.

She focused on the point that spreading AIDS awareness should not be restricted to just one department. It should be the collective responsibility of all government departments to bring in this awareness. As a part of the campaign, sun boards, depicting the causes and prevention of AIDS and carrying a helpline number was circulated to various educational institutes and police departments. There was a huge response to these sun boards from the citizens who kept calling to the help line number.

Another major challenge of KSAPS was to remove the stigma from HIV and AIDS. KSAPS has done a commendable job in this sector for which they have received many awards at national level. KSAPS planned its campaign on spreading awareness in popular places like Chamundi Betta, Palace Ground and special occasions like the festive season. This helped in educating a large number of audiences. Hoardings and flex paintings were strategically placed in the city and in villages for maximum reach.  Places like railway station and bus stands were also selected as prime locations for campaigning. And not just that, KSAPS also conducted weekly review meeting and collected information on the success rate of the campaign.
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