AIDS awareness campaign at INDEX 09

This is a continuation of my previous post. INDEX 09 was spread over two days and so was our campaign. We had designed 3 games initially to draw attention of people to our stall. Games included a dart game, basketball game and a kids golf game. The initial effect of these games was that they attracted a lot of children, who were not part of our target group. Our aim was to spread awareness to people above 17 years of age. Initially things did not go according to plan and I must tell you that we had a tough time dealing with kids. They wanted to try the game not once or twice but till the time their appetite for prizes could be fulfilled. We were distributing Maggi as prizes and fulfilling the wishes of those kids meant running out of stock before reaching our target group.
The Game: Every AIDS awareness question answered correctly would either fetch you a chance to play another game or would get you a prize in case you've won the game. Our aim was to ask all questions during the course of the game so that we could tell as many things during their short stay. After the game was over we ensured they wrote a slogan or a message on a chart paper to win another gift voucher sponsored by Pizza Hut, VLCC and Cultures.
The enthusiasm by kids on our stall led to a chain effect and caused many more people to come over. To keep the kids happy on our stall on day 2 we distributed toffees keeping in mind the constraints given to us by the events management team of INDEX 09.
The response by people was very positive but yes a teenager did once pass obscene remarks. It was not a very pleasant experience, but was politely told to stay in his limits, which he did.
There was another hilarious experience were a lady (a junior school teacher) to win the gift voucher was prepared to write whatever she knew. I specifically told her to write a slogan/message on AIDS awareness and guess what she wrote.
"Plant trees, prevent Globle warming"
Ya! That was "Globle" and not "Global" and hows that for an AIDS awareness campaign. HRD ministry needs to seriously monitor competence levels of teachers.
Leaving apart such outliers, it was a good learning experience. The moment of satisfaction came when our director Dr Devi Singh appreciated our work.
I'd like to give credit to students from Babu Banarsi Das college in their first and second year of graduation who helped us manage the show.
You can get good and accurate information on AIDS on the website of National AIDS Control Organization (NACO).

AIDS awareness - Beyond posters

Marketing of ideas often requires persuasion, but when we are targeting a mass audience, we need to follow a model similar to that of an FMCG company. Awareness of the idea would be followed by trial, which would be succeeded by repeat purchase of the idea and then we'd need to look into depth of repeat purchase.
AIDS can plague a nation, its happiness and growth and so the problem needs to be addressed in a systematic manner. The first stage i.e. Awareness is the most important stage. Not all those who are aware would try. So it is more important to make people aware. And awareness is not about giving "Gyan". Why would somebody come to me to learn more about AIDS if I am just preaching. I am not preaching, I am marketing. Marketing what ? An idea, that can help your life, the society and the nation.

So at IIM Lucknow, we have collaborated with Uttar Pradesh State AIDS Control Society (UPSACS) to spread awareness of the disease. We'll be doing this at the INDEX 2009 fair near Lucknow University by conducting games that would indirectly spread AIDS awareness. INDEX ( Information through Disguised Experimentation) is an  effort aimed at tapping into the sub-conscious of the consumer. Businesses try to do this using conventional marketing tools, but at a high cost in terms of money, time and the inevitable biases that creep in. INDEX is IIM Lucknow's endeavour to provide to the industry quality market research from desensitized data.

I would be organizing the games with members from UPSACS at INDEX 09. We'd be taking AIDS ahead of posters and Gyan. Be there to see.
Also check out :- http://www.indianexpress.com/news/IIM-L-fair-to-make-people-aware-of-AIDS/546446/