• 011-26825565: The 24×7 platelet helpline that will help dengue patients get platelets
• Register as a platelet donor on godrejhit.com/trackthebite or on HIT Track The Bite mobile app

 NEW DELHI, JULY 11^th: Godrej HIT and the Apollo Hospitals Group announced its partnership to build India’s first online Platelet Donor Community for dengue patients. HIT is a well-known household insecticide brand trusted by millions of household in India when it comes to eliminating dangerous insects and pests from their homes. Brand HIT has been liberating people from the anxiety of pests and has been championing the cause and educating masses about prevention of mosquito borne diseases. In this crusade, both HIT & Apollo Hospitals – India’s largest healthcare and hospital group, have been leading multiple community outreach programs. Over the last many years both have been educating masses about mosquito borne diseases and its preventive measures.

In India, dengue has emerged as one of the biggest threats to public health. Last year, more than 1 lakh dengue cases were reported in India with 245 unfortunate dengue deaths. Dengue is an acute viral disease, which is caused by a mosquito bite. It is growing rapidly and continues to take lives of innocent people unabatedly because dengue has no cure and has to be treated symptomatically. While people are aware of the cause of dengue, there is a lack of awareness on how dengue can be cured. Absence of a cure coupled with lack of awareness leads to a lot of anxiety, driving patients to get admitted the moment they are diagnosed positive.

The dengue virus causes a sharp drop in the platelet count of the patient’s blood, triggering internal bleeding and other complications. In rare cases, when the platelet count drops below 20,000/cu.mm, the patient may require an urgent transfusion of platelets. A recent survey carried out by Godrej HIT Nielsen states that 94% of citizens are unaware about the critical level of platelet count below which platelet transfusion is required.

In such a situation, ready availability of a platelet donor becomes critical, as unlike blood, platelets cannot be stored for more than 5 days. However, the Godrej HIT Nielsen report also informed that 80% of the citizens are not aware of this important fact.

Understanding the gravity of the situation, Godrej HIT and Apollo Hospitals has taken this bold initiative to educate citizens and build India’s first online nation-wide platelet donor community. As part of the initiative, Apollo Hospitals will be providing platelets to critical dengue patients and will manage the 24×7 helpline.

Sunil Kataria, Business Head-India and SAARC, Godrej Consumer Products Limited (GCPL) said “Dengue has emerged as a serious threat to public health in India. While people are aware that mosquito bites causes dengue they are unaware of the curative measures, especially about platelets. Our Godrej HIT-Nielsen research reveals that 90% citizens are aware that platelets are blood components but a startling 66% believe that platelets are a cure for dengue and 80% believe that platelets can be stored like blood, both of which are factually incorrect! This lack of awareness leads to lot of anxiety among citizens. Hence Godrej HIT has partnered with Apollo Hospitals to build India’s first online nation-wide platelet donor community for dengue patients”.

He further added “Through this initiative we urge citizens to register as a platelet donor on www.godrejhit.com/trackthebite or on Hit Track the Bite app and help save lives of critical dengue patients. The registration response has been overwhelming and in less than 2 weeks, more than 20,000 citizens have registered as platelet donors. Dengue patients can call on a city-specific 24×7 platelet helpline number across 5 key metros to get platelets. For Delhi NCR, the platelet helpline number is 011-26825565.”

On the occasion, Ms. Sangita Reddy, Joint Managing Director, Apollo Hospitals Group said, “Vector borne diseases like dengue are emerging as a threat to public health in India. To address this issue, we at Apollo Hospitals, have tied-up with Godrej HIT to build a platelet donor community. Through this initiative, we are trying to bridge the disparity in awareness and provide ready resources to manage diseases like dengue. Apollo Hospitals has set-up and will manage a 24×7 helpline for patients suffering from dengue. The helpline is available for donors willing to donate their platelets and for donees looking to receive platelets for their treatment. This initiative is aimed towards building a donor community that can help fellow citizens who fall victim to dengue. With Apollo’s wide reach, our clinical outcomes and the expertise our doctors we are confident that we will help significantly address the challenge posed by dengue and related fevers.”

Godrej HIT’s association with Apollo Hospitals is a multi-channel awareness program. This initiative will drive citizen awareness in 5 key metros to start with.

About Godrej Consumer Products Limited:

Godrej Consumer Products is a leading emerging markets company. As part of the 119-year young Godrej Group, we are fortunate to have a proud legacy built on the strong values of trust, integrity and respect for others. At the same time, we are growing fast and have exciting, ambitious aspirations. Today, our Group enjoys the patronage of 1.1 billion consumers globally, across different businesses. In line with our 3 by 3 approach to international expansion at Godrej Consumer Products, we are building a presence in 3 emerging markets (Asia, Africa, Latin America) across 3 categories (home care, personal wash, hair care).

We rank among the largest household insecticide and hair care players in emerging markets. In household insecticides, we are the leader in India, the second largest player in Indonesia and are expanding our footprint in Africa. We are the leader in serving the hair care needs of women of African descent, the number one player in hair colour in India and Sub-Saharan Africa, and among the leading players in Latin America. We rank number two in soaps in India and are the number one player in air fresheners and wet tissues in Indonesia.

But for us, it is very important that besides our strong financial performance and innovative, much-loved products, we remain a good company. 24 per cent of the holding company of our Group is held in a trust that invests in the environment, health and education. We are also bringing together our passion and purpose to make a difference through our ‘Good & Green’ approach to create a more inclusive and greener India.

At the heart of all of this, is our talented team. We take much pride in fostering an inspiring workplace, with an agile and high performance culture. We are also deeply committed to recognising and valuing diversity across our teams.

Read more at http://www.godrejcp.com/

ABOUT APOLLO HOSPITALS

It was in 1983, that Dr. Prathap Reddy made a pioneering endeavour by launching India’s first corporate hospital – Apollo Hospitals in Chennai. Over the years Apollo Hospitals has established itself as home to the largest cardiac practice in India with over 160,000 cardiac surgeries. Apollo Hospitals is also the world’s largest private cancer care provider and runs the world’s leading solid organ transplant program.

As Asia’s largest and most trusted healthcare group, its presence includes 9,215 beds across 64 Hospitals, 2,500 Pharmacies, over 90 Primary Care and Diagnostic Clinics, 110  plus Telemedicine Centres and 80 plus Apollo Munich Insurance branches spanning the length and breadth of the Country.

As an integrated healthcare service provider with Health Insurance services, Global Projects Consultancy capability, over 15 medical education centres and a Research Foundation with a focus on global Clinical Trials, epidemiological studies, stem cell & genetic research Apollo Hospitals has been at the forefront of new medical breakthroughs with the most recent investment being that of commissioning the first Proton Therapy Center across Asia, Africa and Australia in Chennai, India. Every four days, the Apollo Hospitals Group touches a million lives, in its mission to bring healthcare of International standards within the reach of every individual.

In a rare honour, the Government of India issued a commemorative stamp in recognition of Apollo’s contribution, the first for a healthcare organization. Apollo Hospitals Chairman, Dr. Prathap C Reddy, was conferred with the prestigious Padma Vibhushan in 2010. For more than 30 years, the Apollo Hospitals Group has continuously excelled and maintained leadership in medical innovation, world-class clinical services and cutting-edge technology. Our hospitals are consistently ranked amongst the best hospitals globally for advanced medical services and research.

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Social Media helps give ‘Ezee Hugs’ to more than 70,000 underprivileged children

Every year, the cold waves which sweep the northern belt of India affect thousands of underprivileged children. In order to protect them from harsh winters, Godrej Ezee Liquid Detergent has embarked on the Ezee Hugs Campaign, a woolen donation drive aimed at alleviating the winter related hardship of underprivileged children by providing them warm clothes.

This task is easier said than done as the campaign has to build effective reach, sensitize donor audience about the social cause, urge them to donate & then redistribute the collected woolens to needy children, and all this has to be accomplished in less than 30 days. The key to success lies in the ability to reach as many potential donors in the shortest possible time.

In its 7th edition, Ezee Hugs made Twitter, Facebook and YouTube the center piece of its media strategy to reach millions of people, built awareness about the cause and urged them donate woolens. This year Ezee Hugs has transformed into a major movement in social media platform by urging people to take up the #EzeeChallenge!

#EzeeChallenge urges people to brave the chill of winter without any woolens and warm clothes and share their picture or video on Twitter, Facebook and YouTube. The youth on the social media have taken the challenge and made a commitment to the cause by making the challenge go viral in the recent weeks.

Speaking on the campaign, Sunil Kataria, Business Head – India & SAARC said, “Ezee Hugs represents our continued commitment towards providing warmth to the underprivileged and needy children. The donation drive has been getting bigger every year and this year we expect an even higher number of donations through the support of over 100 schools around Delhi NCR. The sweaters collected through this drive will be donated to needy & underprivileged children through our NGO partner Aarohan.This campaign has grown progressively as an initiative weaving in the element of care, the core of brand Ezee. We are optimistic about spreading this initiative to more parts of the country and help needy children as much as we could. ”

Commenting on the social media outreach for the cause, he added, “The support of the people has been instrumental in our ability to provide warmth needy children every year and therefore, we decided to take the cause online this year with the #EzeeChallenge. The response on social media has given a fillip to the cause with many youth and social media users spreading the word and even making personal donations for the cause. I hope this small step encourages people to join us in making this endeavor even bigger this year and help in making a big difference in the lives of the underprivileged children.”

Apart from engaging with people on Twitter and Facebook, the brand has created an engaging video of people who actually took this challenge in Delhi and has effectively leveraged it to build awareness for this social cause in a clutter breaking way. Ezee Challenge has gone viral and received more than 5.5 lakh views on Facebook and 3.5 lac views on YouTube. The Ezee hugscampaign has succeeded in building significant engagement and conversation on social media with over 65000 social engagements. The campaign has mobilized more than 70,000 warm clothes.

Clothes donated as part of the initiative are washed in Ezee before being shared with the kids.This year Ezee Hugs has helped alleviate the winter related hardship of more than 70000 needy children with these collected warm clothes!

About Godrej Consumer Products:

Godrej Consumer Products Limited is the largest home-grown home and personal care company in India. We are constantly innovating to delight our consumers with more exciting, superior quality products at affordable prices.

We have bold ambitions and are becoming more agile and future ready. We rank number 1 in hair colour, household insecticides and liquid detergents and number 2 in soaps. In India, you grow up with our brands – Good knight, Cinthol, Godrej Expert, Godrej No. 1 – and we are now on our way to becoming an emerging markets FMCG leader.

In line with our 3X3 approach to international expansion, we are building a presence in 3 emerging markets (Asia, Africa, Latin America) across 3 categories (home care, personal wash, hair care). In 2010, we acquired the Indonesia based Megasari group, a leader in household insecticides, air fresheners and baby care. With the acquisition of Rapidol, Kinky and Frika in South Africa, and the Darling Group, a leading pan-Africa hair care company, we have a strong presence in the fast growing African hair care market. We acquired the Issue and Argencos groups in Argentina, leaders in hair colour, in 2010, and expanded our footprint to Chile through the acquisition in Cosmetica Nacional. Our UK business acquired in 2005 has a play in hair and personal care. We also operate in the Middle East and have a strong presence across SAARC countries.

To read more about GCPL, visit www.godrejcp.com

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Mumbai: Over the years, Godrej HIT has been at the forefront in building awareness against pest borne diseases through its ‘Kill Pests Kill Diseases’ campaign. Driving the initiative in a big way for Godrej HIT is its variant – Kala HIT that has executed many successful education campaigns through media and on-ground activations to fight diseases like dengue and malaria.

It is a well-established fact that diseases like dengue and malaria claim thousands of lives globally every year. In fact several institutions and brands have been constantly sensitizing people on the measures that need to be taken by spreading the message through mass media vehicles. But despite such investments, Godrej HIT realized that intense media clutter and noise in traditional media channels has made people indifferent (it often becomes a blind spot) even to such critical messages. However, if such messages are designed to address a specific need, people are far more receptive. Godrej HIT decided to draw people’s attention by causing a disruption in the communication by using a tech intervention that solves a specific need.

An idea of developing a mobile app called ‘HIT – Track the Bite’ was thus born. Developed by LinTeractive, the digital arm of Mullen Lowe Lintas Group, the mobile app is designed to deliver real-time information on dengue and malaria based on the user’s location at vulnerable places. Timely and personalized messages provided on the app leads to higher engagement and persuades people to take effective action against dengue & malaria. Rapid awareness also builds up if information is available and sharable in one click. HIT – Track the Bite mobile app is the perfect solution. With app features like easy share, users can push information with their family and friends at the click of a button, which is a must for boosting organic reach.

Godrej HIT would be running a special drive that would kick off on August 20^th – World Mosquito Day to create heightened awareness around the need to download the app. The app is available for download on Google Play store for Android users (http://bit.ly/TrackTheBite). It will be launched on the iOS platform soon. The brand would be running an app download campaign on the day on Twitter where it will trend under the hashtag #HarKoneMeinDanger. This would help in driving more app downloads and also create buzz about the impending risks arising due to dengue and malaria.

Sharing his thoughts on the new initiative undertaken by Godrej HIT, Sunil Kataria, Business Head India and SAARC, Godrej Consumer Products said, “As a category leader Kala HIT has always led the fight from the front against dengue and malaria by educating people about this threat. This has been achieved through innovative campaigns under “Kill pests Kill diseases” like sand art activity on beaches of Chennai and Puri last year. This year on the occasion of World Mosquito Day, we are unveiling HIT – Track the Bite App, a latest initiative on our mission to provide real time information to people. We are hoping that this information will empower people to fight the threat of dengue and malaria.”

Adding further he said, “Taking our fight against mosquitoes a step further, HIT intends to reach out to every citizen in the country sensitizing them about the threat of dengue or malaria through a technological disruption. HIT-Track the Bite is one-of-a-kind mobile app that intuitively provides real-time information on the threat levels to users basis their location. The app also provides precautionary measures required to remain safe. Spreading this information is critical and thus the app has a built-in feature that allows users also to alert their family and friends at the click of a button.”

According to Kataria, Kala HIT would be embarking on a 4000 plus kilometers drive starting from the national capital – Delhi with the objective of educating people about dengue. On its way to Bangalore, the HIT van will cover more than 20 cities and demonstrate how HIT – Track the Bite app can help them be informed and be safe from dengue and malaria.

Some of the highlights of the app include: 

• It provides real time updates to users on dengue & malaria news in their locality
• The app tracks internet sources for any published news in India on dengue and malaria
• Users can check the threat levels in any part of the country by entering a particular location
• It provides a list of potential risk areas for malaria and dengue in the country
• Easy share features enable users to inform family and friends in any part of the country
• Gives power to the user to report mosquito infestation in a particular locality
• Lists important safety tips to take necessary precautions

Sumanta Ganguly, Senior VP – LinTeractive said, “HIT — Track the Bite app is an offering that is unique in its approach. It’s the first of its kind that takes safety and precaution to the next level on the digital platform.”

Sharing her views on developing the app, Gauri Joshi, Unit Creative Director, LinTeractive said, “Our vision to create a unique app that protects users from the ever-present risk of dengue and malaria has finally been realized. Given the increase in smartphone penetration, we are confident that the users will download and discover the many benefits that the app offers. With the app, users can stay informed and keep their near and dear ones safe from these diseases.”

More than 163 million of the mobile phone users in India use smartphones and more than half of them reside in urban areas. Most smartphone users are hooked onto their phones and rely on it totally when it comes to real time information. HIT-Track the Bite app can engage users across the country by delivering real-time customized information at desired frequency and at a negligible cost, which is impossible to achieve with any other forms of media that help to drive mass-awareness.

Team credits:

Client: Godrej HIT

Team: Sunil Kataria, Ajay Dang, Chandan Kumar, Amritha Gopinath, Rishab Bansal

Agency: LinTeractive

Business: Sumanta Ganguly, Dhananjay Sahasrabuddhe, Lavanya Garg

Creative: Gauri Joshi, Bedanta Thakuria, Kamlesh Deokar

Planning: Girish Khanna

About LinTeractive:

LinTeractive is one of the youngest and the fastest growing digital agencies in India with offices in Mumbai, Delhi and Bangalore. The agency helps businesses connect with customers through ‘On & Offline’ solutions that are brought to life using best-in-class and latest technologies. It today partners some of India’s leading businesses such as Dabur, Godrej HIT, Karvy, eBay India, Turkish Airlines, Woodland and many more in their path to digital transformation.

LinTeractive is a part of Mullen Lowe Lintas Group, India; one of the largest country operations of the Mullen Lowe Group (part of the Interpublic Group of Companies (NYSE: IPG). The Group has operating divisions in advertising (Lowe Lintas, Mullen Lintas), activation (LinEngage), design (dCell), digital (LinTeractive), brand consulting (LinConsult), motion picture (LinProductions), healthcare marketing (LinHealth) and PR (GolinOpinion) that manage 300+ clients. With a talent pool of over 900 people across 7 cities in India, Mullen Lowe Lintas Group currently manages more brands amongst the Top 10, Top 20, Top 50 and Top 100 of AC Nielsen-Brand Equity’s India’s Most Trusted Brands (2013 and 2014), than any other agency in India. In February 2015, Mullen Lowe Lintas Group was ranked the No. 1 creative agency in the

world in effectiveness by the World Advertising and Research Council’s report, WARC 100.

To know more about Mullen Lowe Lintas Group, visit us at www.mullenlowelintas.in or follow Mullen Lowe Lintas Group on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn or YouTube

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