Sri Lanka will be healthy

In May 2009, the new communications campaign for Lifebuoy called Delta Strike was launched. This campaign with six weeks of pre launch hype took the country by storm stirring up emotion and sentiment amongst the people.

According to Kasun Liyanage, Assistant Brand Manager for Lifebuoy, the Delta Strike campaign was launched in four phases: Opinion poll, Pledge, the Launch and the Post launch.

The Opinion Poll

The Opinion poll comprised two weeks of intensive 360 degree campaigning island wide to create top-of-mind awareness on the prevailing health issues in the country.

With the current island wide emergency on dengue and swine flue the debate was very appropriate and the debatable questions posed to the public were, “Children missing school due to sickness. Can it or can it not be avoided?’ in the first week and ‘’should good health habits be taught at school or at home?’in the second week.

The Pledge

The second phase was titled PLEDGE encouraging people to ‘pledge’ for a healthier life. With the entire country rejoicing the war victory, this entire message took on the emotional twist focusing on the grip of patriotism: Sri Lanka. My country. I can change Sri Lanka by changing myself. I can make Sri Lanka healthy by making myself healthy. I pledge to make myself healthy. I pledge to make Sri Lanka healthy.

The Launch

“Phase three was the actual launch of the product,” says Kasun. “We launched a new and improved product along with the core commercial to communicate the message that Lifebuoy is required for a healthy nation. “After the initial phases, we had created a sense of credibility through our ongoing social dialogue.”

“We did not brand this event in any form and treated it as a CSR project. We wanted our consumers to know that this was not just another sale promotion but a heartfelt gesture.”