Testing times

The highest sales for the category take place during exam time. Mothers resort to all forms of nutrition, traditional and modern, to give their children the edge and help them learn better.

But as Exam fever grips India every year from January to March, its side effect - severe stress, impairs learning causing a downward spiral of further stress. Nutrition alone is not the solution.

Data showed, that during this time parents and children both look to the internet to find ‘hacks’ to help understand complicated concepts. The challenge is when kids are gripped with fear and unable to concentrate, will these hacks help?

As Horlicks is about nourishing childhood, we took up the challenge to connect with kids during their most stressful time and create a brand experience that actually reduced stress.

Stop, look, and listen

Fearless Songs is an initiative to make learning fun and take away the fear from exams. Its genesis lies in the fact that Indian kids are severely stressed come exam season and this effects their ability to learn and retain. So, the idea was to create a set of engaging music videos that explain a relevant topic with the objective of aiding learning and retention. A. R. Rahman was the logical choice for this task since his music is hugely popular, inclusive, and appeals to kids and moms alike.

Being a singer, songwriter, producer, and now – teacher, A.R. Rahman personifies the Horlicks stance. Topics were chosen in collaboration with teachers and dreary textbook jargon was lyricized while retaining as much detail as possible. Then the maestro went to work.

Through the funnel

Our strategy was three-fold:

1. Use search data for broad insights

2. Sharpen these insights with teachers’ help

3. Package in a fun format

Search data revealed the spike in searches for leaning hacks during exam season. These searches totaled over 2 million per month on average. We focused our search parameters to children in classes 6 to 8 (Ages 12-14) and prepared a repository of subjects that we could turn into songs. We asked school teachers to filter these subjects and prepare a list of the topics that students find the most difficult to remember.

Using education board approved material, we then started writing songs that would describe the topic in as much detail as possible while keeping it fun and engaging.

The lyrics were then shared with teachers for their review and approval post which it was shared with artists to put them to tune. The choice of artist was based on popularity with children in our age group as well as their mother’s trust.

A note at a time

Google search data revealed the most searched subjects while we spoke to teachers to understand the topics which students find most difficult to remember. Education board approved material was used to write songs that would describe the topic in as much detail as possible while keeping it fun and engaging.

The lyrics were then shared with teachers for their review and approval post which it was shared with A.R. Rahman to put them to tune. A. R. Rahman was tasked to create fun, catchy, memorable songs that would engage the viewer, and alleviate some of their stress as well.

The campaign was promoted across social media, music streaming services, radio, and music channels.

The song on everyone’s lips

The campaign got an overwhelming response from students and mothers. Teachers started to use these videos as a learning aid in schools. Total digital results were as follows:

• Impressions for Fearless Songs: 1,145,234,000 (1.145 Billion)

• Total Views: 65,300,000 (65.3 Million)

• Total Likes, comments and shares – 212,684

• Earned Media – USD $314,523

• 1.1 Billion additional bottles sold

• Rated best-in-class campaign in ad recall in FMCG category by Google

These numbers go to show the belief in Horlicks’ way of learning and the impact of a fearless exam season.