Brands need to use their voice as force for good to break through the clutter: P&G's Girish Kalyanaraman

P&G India, continuing its tradition of running purpose-led campaigns, has rolled out the ‘Invisible Gap’ which aims to highlight the story of Bindiya - a young girl who struggles to cope up in the classroom, often hiding away and demonstrating lack of confidence, until her learning gap is bridged by tech-backed digital remedial learning intervention driven by P&G Shiksha.

The brand, through this, is aiming to keep up its voice as a force for good and growth, especially by spotlighting some of the pressing issues in the field of education.

In an interaction with BuzzInContent.com, Girish Kalyanaraman, Vice-President - Brand Operations, P&G India, stated that the campaign aligns with the company’s endeavour to be a ‘Force For Growth’ and a ‘Force For Good’ in the communities that they serve and to touch and improve people's lives. He stated P&G Shiksha, a CSR program, had been launched in 2005 with the vision of providing means to education for underprivileged children in the country. 

“As the country evolved, P&G Shiksha also evolved into a 360-degree, holistic education initiative targeting communities across the country, aiming to improve children's learning outcomes by strengthening educational infrastructure, remediating learning gaps, and empowering marginalised groups through education. Over the years, we have supported more than 3000 schools impacting over 35 lakh children in need,” he added.

With this, he also went on to highlight that the company’s initiatives all fall in line with the Samagra Shiksha Abhiyan and the motto outlined in the New Education Policy- Educate, Encourage, Enlighten.

Commenting on the campaign conceptualised by Leo Burnett, Kalyanaraman emphasised, citing studies, that over 6 crore children in India fall behind in the learning level of their class due to these learning gaps, with many eventually dropping out. 

“Many times, children struggle to keep up with what is taught in class. One concept, one subject, one class, can give way to a larger issue where the child develops a gap in the fundamentals of education. When the child falls behind and the current learning level is not in line with the expected learning level as per the defined curriculum, it gives rise to learning gap,” he said. 

Moreover, in his views, it is this ‘invisible’ learning gap that is often misunderstood and as children become less serious, or naughtier, or fearful, - and if not addressed, this gap widens and eventually leads to many children either dropping out of school or facing challenges in the later stages of life.

“This has led to a ‘learning crisis’ in India, where access to education has drastically improved, but learning outcomes have not. From loss of confidence and excuses to skip school, to lack of participation and fear of expression- this gap manifests differently in children. In fact, some children even get distracted and hide when probed, like it is showcased in Bindiya’s story,” he added.

Further, he also went on to highlight that owing to the aforementioned case, P&G’s aim this year is to make this #InvisibleGap visible, by creating awareness and urging meaningful action, and ultimately bridge it.

“This campaign is a part of the same as it highlights the need for collective action to ensure that every child in India receives an education that empowers them to build a better future for themselves and their communities,” he shared.

Upon being questioned as to the role of purpose-based marketing, he replied that an average consumer is subjected to thousands of campaigns every day and therefore the best way to break through the clutter is to step up and use its brand voice as a force for good.

“Nearly 80% of consumers say that they are more loyal to purpose-driven brands, and 64% choose, switch, or avoid brands based on their stand on societal issues. Therefore, focusing on purpose-led marketing is not just the right thing to do for the society, but also the right business choice because consumers today want to know the values behind the brands they buy. In fact, they have a strong point of view and expect their brands to do the same. Moreover, 9/10 consumers feel better about a brand that supports a social cause,” he pointed out.

In his opinion, while P&G’s products provide the consumers the benefits they seek from the category, purpose is what has helped the brand to connect with its consumers on shared values and beliefs.

During the course of the interaction, Kalyanaraman also stated that P&G Shiksha started as a program to build schools across the country in line with the government’s mission and that it has today evolved into a holistic program that  dresses some critical barriers to achieving quality education.

“P&G Shiksha is our corporate social program, supported by all our brands. We are fronting this effort as the entire P&G family. The results are in the number of children we have been able to impact with the program over almost two decades now. With thousands of schools and communities, P&G Shiksha is impacting 35 lakh children across the country,” he added.

He also shared with BuzzInContent.com that since the objective of the campaign is to maximise reach and have as many conversations as possible about the #InvisibleGap, about 15 brands - including Amazon India, Swiggy, Hero Cycles, Pantene, etc. helped P&G create more buzz around the lead protagonist of the campaign film- Bindiya -, by adding a hidden girl’s visual to their logos in the week leading to the film’s launch. 

“Even renowned sand artist Sudarshan Pattnaik, who has been known for using his art to raise awareness around social issues, has made a beautiful sand art installation of the hidden girl. He has dedicated his new sand art to the cause with the aim of inspiring people to act and do their bit in identifying learning gaps in children around them and taking remedial measures to bridge it,” he added.

Moving forward the company will also be seen leveraging a multi-media, multi-platform approach to reach millions of people, he pointed out.

Commenting on how the company stood against the pandemic hardships, especially in terms of providing education, Kalyanaraman shared that the country witnessed the second-longest school closure in the world, and, therefore, P&G could not reach the students in the natural ecosystem as per usual and it was because most of the students enrolled in their programs come from households where online classes were a luxury. As a result, the company’s partners in the programme and their teams came together to help the communities navigate the pandemic, while ensuring the children continue to learn, albeit in different ways. 

“We got very creative as well. Stairs in the house or the spokes of a cycle tyre became means for counting exercises, household material like peas, beads, clay, and lentils became learning tools. Textual content took the form of SMS, WhatsApp videos, exercises to make it accessible. Parents got involved unlike ever before. And we came out stronger with a much better understanding and more solutions up our sleeves to help children in a way that works for them,” he said.