How the Ministry of Ayush Yoga Day campaign leveraged ministers as influencers

Armed with Common Yoga Protocol and photo contests, the Ministry of Ayush was able to achieve an engagement of over a million for International Day of Yoga 2021, here's how.

For this International Day of Yoga, or IDY 2021 in short, the Ministry of Ayush went forward with a full-fledged campaign to get people hooked to Yoga. They helped raise awareness about the benefits of Yoga as well as encouraged people to try on different Asanas. The Common Yoga Protocol was promoted throughout the campaign and people were awarded certificates for practicing the correct postures. Chief ministers were roped in as influencers for effective reach in regional languages.

Brand

Ministry of Ayush

Agency

Ventures Advertising Private Limited

Brand Introduction 

The Ministry of Ayurveda, Yoga & Naturopathy, Unani, Siddha, Sowa-Rigpaand Homoeopathy (abbreviated as AYUSH) is purposed with developing education, research, and propagation of indigenous alternative medicine systems in India. The ministry runs multiple healthcare programs, primarily aimed at the rural population. They use digital platforms to build more awareness about the brand and encourage people to be a part of their initiatives.

Summary

To build enduring public interest around the benefits of Yoga, the Ministry of Ayush celebrated the International Day of Yoga 2021 by promoting the Common Yoga Protocol. The message of 'Be with Yoga, Be at Home!' was publicised across social media platforms in association with leading Yoga institutions and central and state governments. The arching theme selected for the initiative was 'Yoga for Wellness'. Creatives were posted across all platforms (Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Koo) under hashtags #BeACYPYogi and #CuteYogaCampaign.

Problem Statement/Objective

The main objective of the campaign was to spread awareness about Yoga and motivate people across the globe to come together and practice Yoga virtually while staying safe in their homes.

Brief

As the pandemic situation continues to be alarming, the approach to the International Day of Yoga 2021 should be one of care and caution. A significant focus should be on awareness generation and mobilisation through various digital media platforms. Influencer marketing approach should be used to create awareness around 'Yoga for Wellness' along with the key messaging of 'Be With Yoga, Be At Home'.

Creative Idea

All the activities under the campaign were organised on the Yoga Portal of the Ministry where the dashboard was tweaked to streamline the participation process with a single Sign In/Registration. For the photo contests, certificates were awarded to participants. They could easily download the same from the portal.

Challenges

To encourage participation, introduce the benefits of Yoga to children, bring behavioural changes in the lifestyle of people, increase engagement for the ministry's initiative on social media, ensure seamless uploads and downloads on the Yoga portal, come up with an appropriate communication strategy in a chaotic and stressful pandemic situation and formulate a photo entry mechanism and promotional plan in seven days.

Also Read: Case Study: How Western Railway leveraged web series references for COVID-19 PSA content

Execution

On June 14, 2021, the Ministry of Ayush had launched a #BeACYPYogi photo contest where citizens were asked to upload photos of themselves performing postures from the Common Yoga Protocol. #CuteYogaCampaign, a photo campaign aimed at encouraging children to participate in the Yoga Day festivities was launched on June 15, 2021. The dashboard was readied to make the campaign and certificates accessible to citizens. Videos featuring prominent persons, such as Chief Ministers, were also shared on social media to encourage participation.

Results

Total Participants: 2197 (#BeACYPYogi) and 2055 (#CuteYogaCampaign)
Facebook: 150 Million Impressions, 100 Million Reach and 4,46,950 Engagement
Twitter: 8 Million Reach and 326,892 Engagement
Instagram: 4 Million Reach and 1,42,048 Engagement
YouTube: 2.1 Million Reach and 310.5K Views
Across Social Media: 114.1 Million Reach and 1.2 Million Engagement

"Since Yoga has become a very important part of our lives due to the ongoing pandemic, our aim was to spread awareness about Yoga and try to help people embrace it. This is why we came up with campaigns that allowed people to perform Yoga and upload pictures of the same. The activities created massive engagement and user participation on the Yoga Porta," said Vitesh Shah, CEO, Ventures Advertising Private Limited.