This case study describes how consumer products brand Unilever built brand awareness in remote areas of India with Kan Khajura Station, a free entertainment service delivered via mobile phones.

While the world is connected and spoilt with an overload of entertainment through regular and digital media, there are parts of the world that are totally disconnected and in the dark – regions such as Bihar and Jharkhand, two of India's most media dark regions, which have no electricity for eight to ten hours a day, but, ironically, 23 million TV sets which lie idle. With a population of 130 million, these were key growth markets for Unilever, who had to find a way to reach out to the market.

The answer lay in the only electronic equipment kept turned on, a rudimentary mobile phone, and 54 million people had one. By transforming their basic phones, Unilever was able to give consumers something they didn't have – an entertainment channel: Kan Khajura Station, a 15-minute, free, on-demand entertainment channel that worked on any mobile phone. On leaving a missed call, an automated call-back was generated with 15 minutes of music, jokes, news and promotions from top brands, which, as with all incoming calls in India, was a free service.

Content was refreshed and evolved each week to build engagement. People could choose to consume these 15 minutes in even smaller slots if they had less free time and most importantly, anytime, anywhere.

By creating a unique service and identity with Kan Khajura, within 6 months we were the largest media channel in Bihar & Jharkhand, ironically India’s most media dark states, reaching 25% of the population, with 24 million calls from 8 million subscribers.

Kan Khajura’s launch success has seen it rolled out to 10 further regions and latest results show 32 million subscribers, who have heard 800 million minutes of content heard with 325 million ad impressions.

Kan Khajura Station is a media first for India and Unilever. We brought mobile operators and content providers together to create our very own innovative entertainment platform on mobile which brought entertainment to consumers who have almost no access to traditional entertainment,. It is a campaign that has not only made a difference to Unilever’s brand presence, augmenting Unilever’s media reach in areas where there are no media options, but also a significant difference to the lives of those living in rural communities.