From conventional advertising to finding new ways, JustMyNeighbour takes advertisers a step closer to the consumer in its innovative way.
For any advertiser, perhaps the most difficult job is to get the attention of its target consumers. While traditional advertising through television, print, outdoor and radio is used by advertisers on a regular basis, new forms of advertising are also emerging, which successfully take brands closer to their consumers. The portal JustMyNeighbour is such a medium which has introduced a unique method to take brands to the consumers' doorstep.
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JustMyNeighbour creates websites for residential apartments and resident welfare associations (RWA), and rather than charge the members for the cost of maintenance of the website, it uses advertising to generate revenue.
Speaking about the concept, Param Sidhu, founder, JustMyNeighbour.com, says, "In a society, while some members are active participants in all kinds of activities, there are a few who remain oblivious. Therefore, I started to work on this idea of creating a one-stop solution for residents. A resident can log on to the site and then go through the entire details, including notices put up, activities being organised, and the latest offers available in the society's store. They can also pay monthly society dues on the website."
However, the company had to face the common problem of obtaining payment for services from the society offices. With the number of defaulters increasing, it had to look at a different way to generate revenue. It thus approached advertisers like Airtel, Intel and Kwality ice-creams, who wanted an easy entry inside the societies. It signed a four year maintenance deal with the societies and brought on board official sponsors for the sites for a period of four years.
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"Because it was difficult to get the payment from societies, we got a main sponsor for the site. Therefore, companies like Airtel, Hindustan Times, Apollo Munich and Intel sponsored and paid for the maintenance of the site," adds Sidhu.
JustMyNeighbour also offers other advertising slots on the sites, such as mailers, banners, side-kicks, billboards and many others.
Meanwhile, it also works to provide offline advertising solutions to advertisers. According to Sidhu, companies struggle to secure permission to organise activities inside societies. On its website, JustMyNeighbour provides the information for each society and gives the advertiser the option to select a society to suit the profile of its target consumer.
For offline advertising, the company also organises fests during festivals, along with below-the-line (BTL) activities such as society kiosks, camps and product demos.
Present in about 13 cities such as Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Pune, Mumbai, Kolkata and Chandigarh, the company at present manages about 2,700 societies. It claims to be expanding on a fast track as it acquires 150 residential societies per month.
For Sidhu, the story has been good so far, as the initiative has provided a new window of advertising and he hopes to maintain the momentum.
(Source-: afaqs.com)
