Mahindra Reva: New Online Strategy

New Media: Online Strategy | Mahindra ‘Reva’ | Leya Elias, 15Malaika Fernandes, 16Nicole Figueiredo, 17Pallavi Karnatak, 27Japneet Kathuria, 28Fern Pais, 36Pallavi Taneja, 52Ritika Varshney, 55 |

Mahindra Reva
Mahindra’s first eco-friendly Electric car Reva promises to deliver clean, green, and connected zero-emissions mobility solutions. The Reva which was bought over by Mahindra for its introduction in the Indian market, is the world's most experienced electric car maker with customers across 24 countries who have collectively driven the Reva over 140 million km.
Why they don’t click:
Website uses gaudy colours, the interactivity is very low and relevant product images and specifications are unavailable. The Facebook Page is active yet does not deliver right and useful information. It is not interactive, engaging and lacks regular updates. The Twitter handle is very lousy and doesn’t give any incentive for people to get involved. It is just another information provider.
Need of the hour: Revolution with REVAlution!
Why Now? * The approaching launch of the new Reva has been quite in news, therefore, it comes as an added advantage to combine the digital campaign with its new car * With Corporate Social Responsibility becoming compulsory, it’s a great chance to get involved with a green eco-friendly car, not only will it overhaul the entire image of Reva , but also serve as an asset to the eco-friendly and eco-sensitive community
Objective:
* Positioning Reva as the car of the future because of its eco-friendly nature and as a desirable car * Increasing visibility for Reva

Target Audience: * In the age group 18-32 years * Environment conscious people * Internet savvy people * People with Budget constraints

Strategy:

Using audience ‘engagement’ as the key to sustenance through online platforms.

Tactics:
To achieve the above objective, a digital online campaign by the name of REVAlution will come to effect in order to enrich the online media space for Reva. It is meant to be an interactive and audience engaging campaign in which people will be introduced to the Reva cars virtually and in real time. The winners of the various events will be awarded exciting goodies from ‘People Tree’: a manufacturer of recycled and eco-friendly goods.

Phase I * Website Strategy
The website revamp is an integral part of Mahindra Reva’s Digital Campaign as it will weave together the exposure obtained in all the other mediums. It will be the binding chord between the company’s Gaming strategy, Social media outreach campaign and blogging activities. It is one of the controlled strategies that can be adopted to promote Reva’s improved image among the target audiences.
The http://www.mahindrareva.com website welcomes you with a very loud and jazzy orange-yellow color, which catches your attention in a very unappealing manner. The objective is to upgrade the quality and standard of the website so that it will be reckoned with amongst its competitors. The content is currently layered in a user-friendly fashion and serves the purpose of the website. On the other hand, the interactivity on this website is very low and relevant product images are not available. Even important details like the price and specifications of the car are unavailable. This makes it cumbersome for potential customers and these are serious mistakes on the part of the company.
The text used on the ‘Home Page’ on the horizontal navigation tabs is too large and unpleasant. The vertical navigation tabs have been well- classified and information is put in an interesting manner. Breadcrumbs are also available as you navigate to different pages on the website. According to ‘statshow.com’, the website currently reaches 30 users and delivers 30 page views each month. With the website revamp, these statistics will improve tremendously.
The first step towards the revamp will be to change the ambience color of the website to a more pleasant green color which will fit into Reva’s eco-friendly image. Colors of yellow, blue, pink and orange can be used in flashes to bring out the funky features of the car. A Gallery of moving images will welcome users to the home screen. We also plan to introduce a ‘Tickr’ at the topmost right corner of the website in the format of a mini- calendar. It will display three items: Number of Reva’s on the road, Total miles covered, Amount of CO2 emission saved. There will also be a Tickr running below the navigation panel displaying current news items and various offers and discounts on Reva. More close-up images, images of the car interior, hardware and videos of the electric car should be available in the ‘Gallery’ tab. This will help increase the attractiveness of the website and also interest customers further.
Details like the price of the car and its various specifications will be available to users in a separate horizontal navigation tab. A new tab for ‘Comparison’ will be added, so that the user can compare the Reva with its competitors easily. A tab ‘Reach Us’ should carry the various Reva outlets and service centres that a customer can access easily. Interested customers will also be able to book a test drive of the Reva through the website and send in any queries they have to the company. In this way, a part of CRM will be taken care of. The website should also have a vertical scroll column displaying testimonials of various current, satisfied Reva users. This will add to the credibility of the product and make the site more user-friendly.
The website will have a link to Mahindra & Mahindra’s official website. It will also have clearly visible links to the Facebook, Twitter, Youtube channel and Flickr accounts along with the REVAlution web page. The blog tab will have a connecting link instead of the current ‘coming soon’ tag. The website in this manner will integrate all activities of the brand.
The future of the automotive industry is electric and sustainability is the new chant. The website will endorse the fact that Reva takes this forward and is a futuristic opportunity that people should adopt. * Online Teaser-Kaun hai wo, jisne hume palat ke bhi nahin dekha?
Teaser Execution:
In the crowded cities we have placed 5 different Reva’s with the drivers. The ideal setting is when we can locate a traffic jam on any road and amidst the noise and confusion the Reva swishes and gets ahead of the jam.
Teaser looks like this: We have a blank screen, we see thunder across the screen but the sound is of a car buzz. After 5 seconds, we see the screen with 5 different target cities (Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore, Chennai, Hyderabad) displayed together in a grid. The setting is of a jam and in no more than 5 seconds of displaying traffic, suddenly we target our Reva and it moves across the traffic quickly. The camera will also focus on people looking out of the cars to see the electric car tearing through the crowd.
Sets the Idea:
It doesn’t stop; it doesn’t look back, like the thunder it rushes ahead! It makes us think that a sedan or a hatchback will be offended by the car, and end up saying : Kaun hai wo jisne hume palat ke nahin dekha? (We can later on have such cartoons, Trolls on FB, Twitter, and Pinterest)
Spot Places: * Day 1: Without an announcement the teaser goes on: Websites- msn.com, yahoo.com and rediff.com, Intranet of Mahindra companies to internally showcase the teaser on employee desktop screens . It goes out only once, and then there is no sign of the Video, not even in YouTube for the day. * Day 2: Same repeats on the next day * Day 2 Onwards: Now the buzz will be created because people will be talking about “what just happened to my screen?” on twitter and facebook. Our very own pages on the two social networking sites will post: “Did you see that burst of electricity?” “looks like something electrifying is coming our way” and the likes. * Day 3: Video released on YouTube. The same promo video would be put up on our website, facebook page and a link would be provided on twitter.

Phase II

* Green The Map

Green The Map will be an online game with an aim to achieve maximum engagement through social media. This phase would come into existence within a month of the website.

Registration:

Mahindra Reva website will have a direct link to the REVAlution website where the game will be played. The participants will have to register first using their Facebook accounts; there will also be an option to link one’s Twitter account or create a separate account. The registration page will comprise of three sections – sign up section, sign in section and a live road map of the game tracking the participants’ progress for others’ reference. Soon after registration, participants will be assigned their own virtual Reva car and unique link that they can tweet and post on their Facebook wall for others to like, follow and use for joining the game. The click on the links will be monitored and each time there is a new registration via that link, the participant will get one badge and their chain will grow by one link. The game will also be taken to the Mobile phones in the form of an application, participants will have to register on the portal first and then use the login details to play on the phone.

Game:

The online game will have 5 different city tracks and 5 challenging levels; participants will be allowed to choose their city but the levels will increase only on the completion of the previous one. The game will involve moving about the city in search of check-points; at various places they will find clues for the next check point. At every check point, the participants will be asked to either perform a green initiative or suggest a new green initiative; game will move forward only after that i.e. one has to perform the asked action to move forward in the game. Each combination of a city and level will have a different mile figure which will be added to the player’s Reva car.
As the game progresses and players keep crossing check-points, automatic tweets and Facebook check-ins will be updated on their accounts for others to like and comment on.

Winners:

The participants will get 10 days to play this game on the website. The winners will be chosen on two factors, (i) collection of the number of miles and (ii) length of the chain they are able to create i.e. the number of badges they collect. The game will end with the selection of top 5 players based on the above criteria.

Prize:

The top 5 players selected will be given their own separate Reva cars for two days, one for practise and another for playing the on-ground real version of this game in 5 major cities closest to them.

Next Destination: As mentioned above, the game will then be taken to the real world, in which top 5 players will re-create the whole game of ‘Green the Map’ on-ground. * From Virtual to Reality:
After the successful online gaming contest, the top 5 scorers or mile owners will get to have the Reva for a one day event. The 5 participants will also be given an RFID chip each. Each participant will be allowed to take one more person with them in the car.
Event:
This event would be organised in their city and the main idea behind this is to take the same online game into the real world. The participants would be part of a race across their respective cities, with a number of checkpoints to cross after overcoming obstacles.
Each checkpoint will be located at prominent cyber cafes serving the purpose of recharge for the car. Besides this, more importantly at each checkpoint, the participant will receive a green clue or a riddle which would lead them to the next checkpoint. He would be able to unlock the clue by ‘checking-in’ to his Facebook and Twitter account via the RFID chip.
Online Strategy:
While this activity is happening on ground, participants would constantly be updating their fans and followers of their progress via social media. Besides this, regular check ins by the participants would update their feeds. Each participant would be expected to put pictures, status messages and live tweet the entire race. For this reason, you are allowed to have a second person in the car. The pair would be also be taking a video of their race, how they overcame obstacles using the Reva and their Reva experience and put it up on Youtube by a stipulated time in the night.
The Winner:
The participants would get a week after the race to promote their pictures and videos as much as they can and get as many views, shares and likes on them. The winner would be decided according to the amount of presence they have been able to create for Reva through the number of views, likes and comments and their overall performance during the entire course of this activity.
Grand Prize:
The winner will get a brand new Reva and coverage across all social media that has Reva’s presence. A prize worth Rs. 50,000 or a discount of 10% on the Reva, whichever is less would be awarded to the runner up.
After the Event:
Right after the declaration of the event, our own Youtube channel called “REVAlution” will be started. The very first video on this channel would be that of the winner of the competition.
More about the Youtube channel:
After the first video, there will be a number of contests conducted by Reva using the online medium. Most of these would allow users to submit videos. The best one’s or the shortlisted one’s will be put up on this channel for viewers to watch, like, share, comment and vote on. The channel will serve the purpose of being a platform for all REVAlution related videos, completely generated by users and updated regularly.

Phase III

* Graffiti (for the youth): Pimp your Reva

In order to encourage the youth to connect with Reva further, they will be asked to send interesting designs for the Reva exterior online. The theme for the contest will be ‘futuristic designs’. This contest will be open for a period of 3-4 weeks. The judges will be from the automobile design industry. The participants will have to register and share their work on their pages on social networking sites. The best works will also be put up on a separate gallery on Reva’s official website, allowing people to comment on them. We would have a special collector’s edition of the Reva with the winning design and goodies worth Rs. 2000. The second and third place winners would also win goodies worth Rs. 2000.

* Story contest: My Reva experience During the third phase of the campaign, Mahindra Reva website will announce a contest for the people who had an experience driving the Reva. This contest will be two weeks long and people can submit their stories on Reva’s Facebook page or even submit it to the website. They can upload their pictures with their stories and they can also pin these pictures through Pinterest. The participants can add a “Follow Me on Pinterest” button to their stories as well as a “Pin It” button which makes it easy for people to pin your image and video content with a single mouse click.
Winner: The winners will be announced via Reva’s website, Facebook and Twitter pages. The first, second, third place winners will be awarded goodies worth Rs. 5000, 3000 and 2000 respectively.

* Social Media Competition: The Last Mile
After bringing about a revolution with Reva’s digital campaign, we plan to have a sustainable digital presence. This would mainly focus on positioning Reva as the next big thing. The last mile activities will be undertaken on social media competition. Participants would upload some funny, witty pictures that directly or indirectly point out how Reva is so cool and the most convenient, eco-friendly and affordable car. The best videos would also be featured on our Youtube Channel.
For eg. A lot of such pictures along with interesting ideas will be posted regularly on social media platforms telling people how their Reva is better than other cars and in what situations Reva proves to be better than any other petrol or diesel car. For eg. In cases of fuel hike, in jam packed traffic where magic-sized Reva swiftly makes its way through it, petrol pumps strike, waiting in the queue at petrol station for hours etc.
In the engagement phase, we plan to excite and engage audiences by giving them a chance to submit their ideas to what they want to do with their Reva. One needs to collect votes from people through comments and likes. Participants with maximum likes & comments will win REVAlutionary goodie bags. These ideas would also include heroic titles you earn for owning a Reva, like The REVAlutionary Award.
The whole purpose of this digital campaign is to give Reva top of the mind brand recall. We will also bring out the cause evidently along with the promotions of Reva.
Winner: The winners will be announced via Reva’s website, Facebook and Twitter pages. The first, second, third place winners will be awarded goodies worth Rs. 5000, 3000 and 2000 respectively.

* Bloggers (Influencers)
We will get about five automobile bloggers and green bloggers to try the Reva for a week and hence write about their experiences and benefits of the car.

For green bloggers: Follow them on twitter, engage in conversations on sustainability and the future, introduce the Reva, invite them to try the Reva along with making sure they blog with the focus on sustainability.

For the automobile bloggers: Invite them to use the car, check the specifications and advantages and blog about it.

Reva as a city car - We will also give the Reva for a week to regular tweeters (who have a large number of followers). They will have to tweet about their daily life and how Reva helped them make travelling easier.

* Mobile Application
With the launch of the car and the setting up of recharge points across the country, the mobile application will be released. The mobile app will be a location based app that will tell you the nearest charging station where you can charge your Reva while on the move. Charging stations will be put up near big malls, major roads and state highways.

Time Bound Strategy PHASE | | BROAD ACTIVITIES | PERIOD | 1 | A | Website Strategy: Revamping | Jan-March | | B | Release of Online Teaser | | | | | | 2 | A | Green the Map-Virtual Gaming | March- May | | B | Green the Map-Reality Gaming (On Road) | | | | | | 3 | A | Activities focussing on engagement- Pimp you Reva, | May- Dec | | | My Reva Experience and The Last Mile | |

Digital Broadcast Publishing * The launch of the revamped website, the gaming site (REVAlution) will be announced via press releases sent out to digital publishing houses like Indiainfoline, cnbclive.in, indiatimes.com, etc * We would also send our reports to analyst firms like Frost&Sullivan, IDC, Gartener, Forrester and Green manuals and technology. * It will also be sent at consultancy firms like E&Y, PWC, Deloitte and KPMG.

Budget

Evaluation/ Measurement
The success of the entire strategy will be measured in the following ways:

* No. of hits on the website when it had just started and the no. of hits by the end of the entire campaign * No. of likes initially and the increase in the number by the end on the facebook page and the amount of activity, posts by users * No. of twitter followers, retweets, replies * Youtube views and shares. Also the number of entries for the channel * Online coverage by publishing houses * Print coverage of the online gaming and real time competition * Measuring the increase in sales figures of the Reva