Our inspiration came from childhood memories of how Teacher’s Day is celebrated in India. Typical celebrations involve giving a break to the teacher by having senior students switch roles and take on the responsibility of teaching junior classes.

Searching for ways to inspire people to teach, we realised that even corporate employees had teachers – their company leaders, society influencers and key people in positions of authority. But these were busy people and in true Akanksha style, we wanted to give them something before asking for their time to support our cause. Thus Job Switch was born.

So come Teacher’s day on September 5th, we would give our Akanksha teachers a break, but not by bringing in senior students. Instead we would approach leaders of companies and entrepreneurs and ask them to take classes. In return, a child from Akanksha would fill in for them at their workplace.

JobSwitch Selection: We approached achievers and influencers, across industries, who could provide meaningful ‘lessons’/ experiences to our kids. The following personalities jumped at this unique opportunity:

1. SUDHANSHU VATS, Group CEO - Viacom 18 (India’s leading entertainment channel group)

2. RAJ NAYAK, CEO Hindi Mass Entertainment - Viacom 18

3. SHEREEN BHAN, Managing Editor CNBC-TV18 (India’s leading Business News Channel)

4.AHMED PATHAN, SR. Inspector of Mumbai Police Force

5. HRISHIKESH KANNAN, National Host and Producer - Radio One 94.3 (Mumbai’s only English Radio station)

6. POOJA DHINGRA, Chef and Founder - LE-15 Patisserie

7. MICKEY DOSHI, Managing Director and Country CEO - Credit Suisse

8. MICKEY MEHTA, Celebrity Fitness Guru

We turned these JobSwitches into online films and shared it on YouTube. These industry stalwartsshared their JobSwitch videos on their professional and personal networks. As the word spread, JobSwitch was demonstrated on TV, Radio, social media and on-ground too.

THE VIDEOS WERE POSTED OVER 4 DAYS – 5TH to 8TH SEPT 2016. We are proud to show you RESULTS GARNERED IN THE FOLLOWING 26 DAYS with a Zero marketing budget.

Result #1: Having access to these corporate honchos meant we had access to a cumulative staff strength of 49,200 who could be influenced by him/ her directly and indirectly via social media. Akanksha’s share of professionals’ applications went up from 40% to 55% exceeding our targeted growth of 50%.

RESULT #2: The campaign achieved a CUMULATIVE REACH OF 15.4 MILLION IN JUST 26 DAYS.

Akanksha Earned Social Media PR worth 1.2 million (Source: Industry estimates)

Digital PR: News sites like Indian Express proactively picked up the campaign and helped spread awareness amongst their communities

The campaign also got shared by influencers and celebs like Anupam Kher (Bollywood Celebrity), Ronnie Screwvala (Founder of UTV) and Ms Malini (Celebrity Blogger)