Veteran’s Day in India is celebrated on 14th January every year. We realised that in our country, Veterans do not receive the kind of recognition they deserve; neither by citizens at large nor by brands.
Being closely associated with The Indian Armed Forces community, we wanted to own this space and use this occasion to celebrate our Indian Defence Veterans for their dedication and spirit; and express our genuine gratitude towards them.
We worked on an engaging and informative Veterans Day Campaign which went live on all our social media platforms. The Campaign ran for close to a month from 14th January 2020 to 10th Feb 2020 and was widely accepted and promoted by the Defence fraternity and Defence lovers.
Noting that the Armed Forces Veterans Day is celebrated on 14 January to commemorate the retirement date of Field Marshal KM Cariappa in 1953, after having served as the first Indian Chief of Army Staff since 1949, the Navy Chief lauded his leadership, direction and guidance during four years at the helm which helped establish a strong edifice of the Indian Armed Forces.
Within the community of The Indian Armed Forces, Veterans are much revered and held in high regard and it is our privilege to be closely associated with them.
Once an individual dedicates their life to their nation by joining the Armed Forces, they are subject to a set of principles and values that become a part of their lives and stay with them even after they retire from the forces.
Once a Fauji, Forever a Fauji, even after retirement!
Our campaign was a celebration of Veterans for their undying resolute spirit, and in our effort to express our gratitude as udChalo, we encouraged everyone else too. #ForeverFauji and #SaluteChallenge were special brand hashtags created for this particular campaign, which were widely used by all those who supported and were engaged in this activity.
A well-received video content series showcasing the #ForeverFauji spirit of our Veterans went live across social platforms like Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and Youtube. Users were invited to share their gratitude towards Veterans through Appreciation activities and a Salute Challenge #SaluteChallenge that was led by a key influencer and Defence dependant, Neha Dhupia, inviting others to follow.
In addition to all of this, udChalo took the lead in sharing and making available information around the benefits and privileges that most Veterans are entitled to receive. This was showcased on our social platforms in the form of content carousels, videos and a blog series that was received very well by our customers.
Through the Campaign, there were Appreciation Cards made available online to all. This concept was directed at bringing people to show their respect and admiration for India’s Veterans by using social media to write a note, thanking them for the sacrifices that they have made for our nation. Owing to its media backing, the post received a high reach and engagement on Facebook and Instagram, with many people commenting on the post.
Veterans Benefits & Privileges content series
This included a series of posts in the form of carousels and videos, with the objective of informing Veterans of the various benefits that are available to them. Clicking on the videos, carousels lead to the blog page on the website which provided more information to the audience.
These videos and carousel posts received a high number of engagement and reach. This may have performed well as they were informative posts that our audience may have found useful to consume. Furthermore, the videos were also short format videos, which were the highest performing as per recent trends.
In order to bring out the emotions behind our campaign, we depicted what it was like from the perspective of our Veterans by creating 8 videos around each of them depicting what they felt, and how they lived their lives revolving around strict values and discipline. This content series resonated well with the audience as they wholeheartedly appreciated the stories of these veterans.
During the #ForeverFauji campaign, all the Veteran videos went up on YouTube, with a media push backing each film.
After the rollout of all the Veteran films, a closing film was made to end the campaign as a tribute to all Veterans, from udChalo. This film performed consistently well across all platforms and garnered an extremely high engagement.
This Veterans Day campaign ran successfully for close to a month encouraging participation and engagement from a reasonably large audience across all social media platforms achieving 11 million plus impressions.
