Traditionally in a rural Indian wedding, the bride arrives in a ‘Palanquin’- a symbol of happiness and celebration. The bride brings with her new information, products and habits.Various HUL brands promise better health and lifestyle, bringing happiness and wellbeing for the family.

Marrying these two, we created ‘The Palanquin of Happiness’.

•Our Palanquin had a television set, a DVD player and a rechargeable battery. 684 such multimedia sets of Palanquins penetrated 3 key states of India every day, for 7 months, taking media where none existed.•Two communicators carried this ‘Palanquin’ to the audiences’ doorstep and engaged them in an interactive session, carrying out demonstrations, sampling and incentivized selling.•showcasing rural-specific films; •Specially created animated films (rural tone) showcasing local lifestyle and brand based problem-solution relationship were shown to the TG.•Brand visibility and product availability with village retailers, closed the loop.

•More than 3000 communicators, with 684 Palanquins covered 28,316 villages.•We engaged more than 10 million women through India’s largest ever ‘consumer engagement’ program.•Brand visibility and availability was created at close to 200,000 rural retail outlets •Brand awareness as well as penetration for most of the participating brands increased significantly*•Market shares for the ‘Home & Personal Care’ category of HUL increased by 700 basis points in one of the key states**Detailed tables/graphs attached