Rupesh Mandal

Writer. Creative Strategist. Last seen in Mumbai, India. Reach me at [phone]. Browse creative showcase/ proof of concepts and let's collaborate to do something interesting.

[rupeshmandal]

Objective: Turn Myths and Rumours around Jio into an opportunity to create buzz on Digital Media 

Results: 

67million overall Impressions earned media value (Social + PR) amounted to Estimated INR 2.01Cr @ CPM of INR 300 

Perception: 

 Jio established itself as a forward tech brand with a sense of humour amongst the likes of Google, Tesla, Uber

Love in the time of price war. 14 Feb 2017.

Dear @airtelindia, @VodafoneIN, @ideacellular, Happy Valentine’s Day. #WithLoveFromJio

— Reliance Jio (@reliancejio)

February 14, 2017

Happy Women's Day

Happy Holi

History retweets itself. 14 Feb 2018.

Dear 160 million Jio users and our friends who still reside in SIM slot 2, you hold a special place in our heart. Happy Valentine’s Day. #WithLoveFromJio #ValentinesDay #ValentinesDay2018 pic.twitter.com/GVh2qSeraW

— Reliance Jio (@reliancejio)

February 14, 2018

[rupeshmandal]

Fill in the Potholes Project

The Fill in the Potholes Project began as a humorous take on the sorry state of roads in Mumbai, so as to drive the attention of people and authorities alike towards this grave problem; in an unusual way of filling them with stories, where potholes are the protagonists. What initially started as a fun project is now attempting a solution - to fill the potholes together. What if citizens are given the responsibility and power to report and track potholes spread across the city? This thought led to an idea, "Spothole App". A Mobile App, to enable citizens to report the GPS location of a pothole through their smartphones. The project successfully raised Rs 1,22,100 through a crowdfunding campaign. The data collected through the app will help authorities to identify the problem areas and speed up the process of filling up potholes, averting the plethora of problems that arrive with these craters.

Visit: www.fillinthepotholes.com

Pothole Stories Calendar 2016.

Pothole Ashtray Product Design. Buy Now.

Spothole App - India Today TV Interview.

The loader of the Spothole App, a crowdfunded pothole reporting and tracking app for the city of Mumbai draws inspiration from real life situation where a car is stuck in a pothole and is attempting again and again to get out of it, but in vain.

[rupeshmandal]

Magic Pencil Project

A guerrilla marketing campaign by ICICI Bank to promote awareness and participation in nationwide drawing competition, Creative Masters where select drawings will be auctioned and the proceeds will be used to bring alive the drawings portraying a social cause.

Ploy

In early May 2014, Magic Pencil Project was founded as a technology start-up based in Mumbai, India which claims to have developed RE (Reality Emulator) technology, and BX-4000 microchip, which has allowed for the invention of the Magic Pencil, which can presumably bring alive anything you draw with it. The Magic Pencil draws similarity with Shaka Laka Boom Boom and Philips and the Monkey Pen.

On May 21, 2014, a promotional video was released from Magic Pencil Project’s Facebook page, which includes founders of the Magic Pencil Project demonstrating how the BX-4000 chip when fused with cell regenerative properties of Phloem of Bubinga wood brings alive anything you draw with it. The video also features godfather of Indian advertising Piyush Pandey, endorsing the Magic Pencil, and quickly gained viral status. Magic Pencil Project went out looking for beta testers. To apply on the Magic Pencil Project Website all you needed to do was to tell what you would draw if you had the Magic Pencil.

Reveal

On May 28, 2014, Magic Pencil Project released another video, Every Pencil is a Magic Pencil, on their YouTube channel, encouraging viewers to participate in ICICI Creative Masters drawing competition and turn any pencil into a magic pencil.

[rupeshmandal]

Holachef Launch

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Channel V - Know your VQ (Voting Quotient)

Promoting voting during 2014 general elections using sexual innuendoes. Reaching out to the youth which makes the most number of first time voters and encouraging them to lose out their voting virginity.

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An experience of teaching little monks in a remote monastery school in Ladakh, India.

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Local Banya Pitch

Insight:

There is always a nagging grocery list in our head. “Sugar is over”, “Get curd” and so and so. Sometimes you forget it. And sometimes it randomly pops up at unwanted place and you want to hold your thought afraid of losing it again.

Idea:

Forget your grocery shopping to Local Banya. So you can remember all those things you love to do. Or maybe things you have not done since a while.

[rupeshmandal]

WAHL - Pitch

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Autocar Young Driver 2013. Safe Drivers Wanted.

Call for entry online video.

Contest website. www.youngdriver.in

[rupeshmandal]

CPR on Facebook

HealthSpring is a community medical service that often holds workshops regularly to educate people on how to deal in case of an emergency. How to do a CPR to the needed one .etc.

How to make people aware about CPR on Facebook?

Facebook is the most popular photo-sharing platform, and while you are viewing a photo, clicking on it takes you to the next photo in the album.

Using this insight, a series of photos were shot and uploaded in a Facebook album which upon serial clicking seems like a stop-motion effect.

[rupeshmandal]

Coca-Cola

Why?

People are looking for happiness. India ranks at #90 for HPI (Happiness Planet Index). Source: Wikipedia, Gross National Happiness

How?

Open Happiness!

What?

Make Her Smile - Proof of concept

What inspired this idea?

I have done my schooling from Kendriya Vidyalaya and I remember there was a story called "Phool Kumari" in our Hindi textbook in class 3 or 4, if I am not wrong. The story was something like she was an ever smiling princess who suddenly becomes sad for some reason and her father, the king announces that whoever makes her happy again, gets her hand in marriage. Many princes from different places came and try to make her smile by telling jokes and acting smart, all in vain. Then comes an old man with a pot belly who walked into the palace court slowly while everyone watching him in surprise. As he stood up in front of the princess, his pot belly, which was actually a fake one, fell down and that made the princess burst into laughter. While the king was happy to see her daughter smile again, he was worried too with the thought of getting the princess married to this old man, to keep the promise. Meanwhile breaking the silence and his worries, the old man reveals that he impersonated this dress up and was actually a prince from the neighbouring state. They both got married and lived happily afterwards.

I converted the same story into an interactive campaign idea where without telling which brand it is all about, through news channels, print ads, PR articles .etc. people get to know that the protagonist, a beautiful girl, who people already know of, is all of a sudden sad and there is an open challenge to make her happy. There is some reward for it. Leading to the website where you can see her Live video as she is looking sad. People take up the challenge and try whatnot to make her smile by enabling their webcam. The interactions and people trying to make her smile with funny faces .etc. are recorded and shared on youtube which become fresh content to be consumed. Finally, you reveal the answer i.e. the brand when you bring in front of the camera, she starts smiling. It's the brand that opens happiness. Yes, coca cola it is.

[rupeshmandal]

While working on the brand ITC Paperkraft Photocopying Paper, a new form of art 'Copyart' was discovered. The art is created on Paperkraft Photocopying Paper by holding two writing/drawing instruments together. 

A couple of viral films of 'Copyart' in-action were shot and then released on torrents with a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 2.5 India License, where Paperkraft keeps the copyright but allows people to copy and distribute the work provided they give back credit.

Torrents are widely used by users to share, distribute, copy and download content online, which fits the brand films. Thus, the strategy behind releasing the films on torrents for download and share; spreading Copyart.

Download this torrent

[rupeshmandal]

IPL Royal Challengers Bangalore

Brief to agency was- "Huge amount of money is spent on display advertising to drive traffic to the website but the bounce rate it too high. Bring interaction and engagement among RCB fans."

Insight came from the largest RCB community in then-so-popular social networking site orkut, where moderators themselves are allocating tasks among each other to keep the community active and happening. Link

Learning from the insight, the solution provided was to revamp the website with hunt for 3 fanatic fans of Royal Challengers Bangalore who will blog, take photos and motivate others as they tour Airtel Champions League with Team RCB. 3 official jobs openings in the IPL team. Link

Results:

12.5 lakh page views [Google Analytics]

5 lakh unique visitors [Google Analytics]

18,500+ sign ups [Internal Database]

3,687 applications [Internal Database]

340+ blog posts generated in Fan Club [royalchallengers.com/fan-club]

200,000 fans on facebook page

[rupeshmandal]

Mitsubishi Cedia Great Driving Challenge

In 2009, Hindustan Motors (HML) did a consumer research and found that loyal Mitsubishi Cedia owners love the car but a prospective car buyer prefers a Honda because it is better placed in the market and much talked about through advertisements. Taking this insight, HML launched a revamped version, new Mitsubishi Cedia Sports. The brief given to agency was "Mitsubishi Cedia Sports is not meant to be kept in parking lot." The objective was to draw attention of car fanatics and engage them in conversations around Cedia to create the buzz. The solution was "Let's drive-off!" and it took the shape of the "Great Driving Challenge" campaign, first social-media-centric online reality show in India where based upon public voting and jury selections, final 3 applicants were sent on an all-expense road trip in a brand new Cedia car, on their chosen route. All they needed to do in return is to share their journey through blogs, tweets, photos, videos. Results:

10,000+ participants

Unique Visitors in a month: 6,50,000

Page views in a month: 6,900,000

Max page views for a day: 7,50,000

Blog Citings: 120

Total Votes Cast: 3,20,000

Awards:

Creative Abby Silver 2010, interactive advertising category

IDMA awards 2010 Gold for best use of social media

Case Studies:

Think Digital with Google, Great Driving Challenge case study

Top of Mind, Dec 2009

[rupeshmandal]

Virgin Mobile 100 Hours Rockathon

In 2009, Virgin Mobile India launched a music-centric mobile phone with an USP of free unlimited music downloads for an year. To market this mobile phone in a 'Think Hatke' style, a 100 hours non-stop live rock concert was organized at Bangalore, the 'Rock Capital' of India where around 50 music bands across the country performed live over 5 days (25–29 May, 2009).

The concert was live-streamed online at rockathon.in and it got into Limca Book of Records for clocking over 100 hours of non-stop live-streaming of music. Link

[rupeshmandal]

United Nations Millennium Campaign 2008. 17th-19th Oct, 2008.

Inclusion of social media strategy in the End Poverty campaign resulted in 62% growth in participation and engagement compared to previous year. Also, breaking the existing Guinness World Records for the success of campaign.

The social media campaign was also shortlisted at Yahoo India UnCannies'09 under the category 'Online Advertising'.

The above case study of use of social media in United Nations Millennium Campaign was also featured at Slideshare.net

[rupeshmandal]

Bangalore Mirror Technology Columnist.