#HaathMunhBum: Social extention to HUL's brand proposition

Hindustan Unilever Limited (HUL) recently broadcasted the commencement of ‘Swachh Aadat, Swachh Bharat’ programme parallel to the Government’s Swachh Bharat Abhiyan (Clean India Mission) to encourage good health and hygiene practices. 

In this digital campaign initiated by Hindustan Unilever, Haath (hand) signifies to wash your hands five times a day with soap, Munh (mouth) to adopt safe drinking water practices and Bum to use a toilet to defecate and keep it hygienic.

Haath, Munh Aur Bum, Bimari Hogi Kum may sound a tad bit gibberish. But the campaign stands for three simple healthy habits that can go a long way in preventing poor health.

HUL claims it has touched 120 million in India, including 63 million through the Lifebuoy handwashing campaign, 56 million through Pureit's safe drinking water and constructing over 3,000 toilets through Domex Toilet Academy.

Execution

HUL launched a digital campaign on YouTube showcasing children pointing at the necessity to cleanse hands, defecate in sanitary toilets and drink clean water. The campaign highlights three brands from Hindustan Unilever - Domex, Lifebuoy, and Pureit.

The campaign believes that embracing sanitary habits is as essential as development of hygiene infrastructure to realize the Clean India Mission.

Previously, Lifebuoy, had rolled out a campaign with the aim to reduce diseases like diarrhea and pneumonia and raise awareness about the importance of hand-washing.

The YouTube channel Help a Child Reach 5 invited people to make a pledge and redirected it to the Facebook app. #HelpAChildReach5 was the hashtag used for promotion of the campaign.

Though the campaign focused on raising awareness on the importance of hand washing, the Facebook app did not emphasize on hand washing habits, but only consisted of a pledge button and the ad-film.

Haath Munh aur Bum campaign, however, in the most simplistic way manages to touch the issue in a video of just 2 minutes.

This jolly video with a catchy jingle aims to bring a behavioral change in people through children. The motive of this campaign was especially to reach the slum population from Mumbai and Delhi.

Results

The campaign was a simple and uncomplicated to remember, and the catchy tag line of ‘Haath, Muh, Bum’ and the fact that children are trying to inculcate ‘good habits’ in adults turned out to be the stars of the campaign.

Globally, brands and organizations have realized the importance of hashtag and the culture is undoubtedly ruling all social media giants. HUL however, did not encourage a hashtag initiative to create buzz on every social media platform, but, ran the campaign on YouTube the traditional way by simply using a tagline.

It has been sharing the video with its tagline hashtagged as #HaathMunhBum.

Watch kids spreading the message of adopting the 3 Swachh Aadat in a fun way! #HaathMunhBum pic.twitter.com/N726YkpQmL

— Hindustan Unilever (@HUL_News) December 10, 2015

Scope for improvement

The campaign is very beguiling and smartly touches the three vital health concerns through their products - Domex, Lifebuoy and Pureit, by advertising three products in just over 2 minutes. As the campaign lacks social media presence, it fails to reach a majority. Twitter, Facebook or any other social media platform apart from YouTube is not seen majorly talking about the campaign.

However, with quality content, it is likely that Haath, Muh aur Bum will reach out to its core target audience.