What started as a simple social media campaign for a new snack brand in India just about a year back has today evolved into a full-blown invention to track and manage inventory for FMCG products in a highly unorganized retail market. An innovative use of twitter, now registered as Plan-T, is being successfully accepted as a tool that complements any existing distribution set-up to track inventory on an ongoing basis.

Hippo had a simple yet powerful philosophy - 'Hunger is the root of all evil. So, don’t go hungry.' Hippo used this simple human insight to connect better with his consumers, even on Twitter.

Hippo spoke to them as a hunger fighter. As more people bought into this philosophy, Hippo launched Plan-T on Twitter, 'a mission' to fight hunger by identifying shelves where Hippo was missing. Thanks to cellphones and other handy gadgets, people could even tweet directly from stores whenever they failed to find Hippo packs.

Twitter proved to be an appropriate tool, since people were tracking inventory and informing Hippo on real-time basis. Hippo collected this information, analysed and sent it to the local distributors of respective areas, who immediately restocked the packs.

Hippo managed to gauge demand and identify and prioritize new markets. Since demand was never a problem, by catering to it, Hippo significantly upped his sales. For consumers, the knowledge that a mere tweet could restock their neighbourhood store with their favourite snack was highly fulfilling. Hippo could also measure the return on investment per tweet.

Plan-T is now a case study taught at leading B-schools, featured in various books on online marketing. Even TWTRCON San Francisco acknowledged the innovative manner in which Plan-T solved such a technical problem. Plan-T has found a permanent place in the brand’s sales and distribution system. It has also inspired other brands as they are using similar techniques to track inventory.