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USE CASE INDUSTRY INTEGRATION M A R K E T I N G E D U C A T I O N

( N G O ) C U S T O M

B U I L T

EVERY CHILD DESERVES A STORY!

Learn how Pratham Books innovatively used Ozonetel’s platform to let 58528 callers listen to a story for free on their mobile phones, by using a unique “missed call” concept.

Used across schools and homes in 4 Indian cities, the campaign was a massive success. Every user called back an average of 5 times each.

It felt wonderful to help Pratham Books in this heart-warming, meaningful venture.

WHEN MISSED CALLS HELP CONNECT

Some analysts were surprised when India overtook US to emerge second globally in the number of mobile subscribers (1 billion plus). Unlike US however, a large chunk of the Indian population earns less than $75 a month and cannot afford a high monthly telephone bill.

So how do they use their mobile phones then? Using frugal innovation. They use the missed call to communicate; much like the miskol in the Philippines; beep in Africa; memancing in Indone sia; and flashcall in Pakistan.

A missed call costs nothing. A cook or driver may give a missed call to their employer. A teenage kid may give a missed call to their parent. The parent or employer calls back, effectively transferring the cost of the call charges.

Ozonetel had already used the missed call service to successfully run Kan Khajura Teshan, a hugely successful campaign where over 8 million users gave missed calls, only to be called back with 18 minutes of free radio. These users were spread across rural regions of India where other media such as print media, television and internet weren’t as widespread as phone usage.

Pratham books used the same concept to encourage children to listen to stories to help solve the problem of underdeveloped vocabularies in regions with low exposure to other media.

HELPING STORIES TRANSFORM

Pratham Books was set up as a not-for-profit children’s book publisher in 2004 with the mission to “see a book in every child’s hand”. They constantly innovate to expose children to new ways of enjoying stories and discovering the joys of reading. They publish books in over 20 Indian languages, and were soon seeing print runs of 6000-8000 copies.

In 2015, they started StoryWeaver, an online platform for their stories. With the Kahani Suno initiative, they weave together words and sounds to create a delightful reading experience for children. Children get exposed to a wide range of words that helps them enhance their vocabulary and improve their diction.

A NEW MEDIA FOR AN ELUSIVE DEMOGRAPHIC

A large segment of India’s population resides in areas with poor internet connectivity. Average literacy rates of 74.07% mean low penetration of print media. Even television hasn’t made the same inroads as mobile phones. For example, in rural regions only 109 people own television sets, as compared to 499 million owning mobile phones. This is how mobile phones have emerged as new means for brands and NGO’s to reach their messages and stories across to an elusive audience.

Telephony integrations with radio allow the messages to be rich in sound, music and dramatic narrative.

HOW IT WORKS

Tools used: IVR Dialer | Radio Integration | Database integration |Customised applications

RESULTS

As these statistics show, the campaign was an enormous success. People called in repeatedly to hear and enjoy the stories - from across Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Jaipur, Punjab and Uttar Pradesh.

§ 58528 people called in to listen to stories from across 4 states. § On an average every user called back about 5 times. § It was most popular in Punjab where 26991 people made about 158271 calls within just 13

days. § The campaign ran longest in Uttar Pradesh for 8 months.