India: Reliance Cement marketing campaign

Reliance Cement, a 100% subsidiary of Reliance Infrastructure, is currently in the middle of a six-month  campaign to better promote its OOH cement brand that was initially launched in 2007.

One creative of the campaign showcases a huge cement bag placed on the billboard. The bag is shown pouring cement on a person, making him look like a cement man. In another marketing banner, a huge moving crane attached to a motorised pulley is erected across a billboard, apparently pulling the cement bag.

The campaign was created by the DDB Mudra Group. Monal Kabra, director, group account, DDB Mudra Group, says, "Our aim was to create a niche for the brand and develop its presence in the region."

Kabra says: "Cement is not an easy sector to do innovation as it is not a very fancy category. We had to create something different as it would create space for the brand in the minds of people."

The campaign began in September, 2012 and will run for six months. It is spread across 365 units including unipoles, bus shelters, kiosks and billboards. The creatives have been given innovative forms such as a cement mannequin, pole kiosks in the shape of cement bags, moving cranes lifting cement bags and neons.

The marketing strategy is mainly restricted to Vidharba and Nagpur as the product is only available here and will be rolled out to other areas later.

Reliance Cement aspires to be amongst the top four cement companies in India in the next 4-5 years, with presence across all regions. It is currently setting up its first two cement plants, one in Madhya Pradesh and the other in Maharashtra, with a combined installed capacity of 10Mta.