Hippo had a simple yet powerful philosophy - ‘Hunger is the root of all evil. So, don’t go hungry.’ Hippo used this simple human insight to connect better with his consumers, even on Twitter. Hippo spoke to them as a hunger fighter. As more people bought into this philosophy, Hippo launched Plan-T and urged them to help him identify empty shelves and inform him via a tweet whenever they found empty shelves in their neighbourhoods. Tweets poured in from more than 50 cities. People were tweeting from their cellphones from supermarkets, hypermarkets and local grocery stores. Hippo collected this information, analysed and sent it to the local distributors of respective areas, who eventually restocked the packs.

Hippo gauged demand, and identified and prioritised new markets. Since demand was never a problem, by catering to it, Hippo upped his sales by 76%. For consumers, the knowledge that a mere tweet could restock their neighbourhood store with their favourite snack was highly fulfilling. Hippo could also measure the return on investment per tweet. Plan-T is now a case study taught at leading B-schools, featured in various books on online marketing. Even TWTRCON San Francisco acknowledged the innovative manner in which Plan-T solved such a technical problem. Plan-T has found a permanent place in the brand’s sales and distribution system. And all this at almost no cost.