DRM Awareness Campaign for the Indian Automotive Industry

Not all marketing and communication campaigns need big budgets and expensive agencies. A lot of initiative, a big heart and perseverance are sometimes the engine of a good grassroots campaign.

This is being demonstrated by Dr. Thamminana Krushna Rao, former Deputy Director of the Audio-Visual Production & Research Centre (Dr.B.R.Ambedkar Open University) in Hyderabad (the Indian Telangana State). He first familiarised himself with latest DRM digital radio developments.  Dr. Rao studied the various technical and marketing documentation available on the DRM website (www.drm.org), following also closely the roll-out of the DRM standard in India. He found out that 36 All India Radio medium wave transmitters are broadcasting in DRM and their signals are covering today almost 1bn people. (See All India Radio Stations Broadcasting in DRM MW)

He also realised that the Indian automotive market has achieved the fastest digital radio adoption. 28% of new cars on the road are currently equipped with a DRM digital radio receiver which comes at no extra cost to the new car buyers. The number of cars equipped with DRM radio sets is ever-increasing with over 4.5 million cars on the roads since 2015, when DRM was first launched in Indian cars.

Having witnessed the progress of the DRM roll-out in his country, Dr. Rao has become a strong DRM Consortium supporter and its state-of-the-art technology.  He realised that increased local DRM awareness campaigns are of paramount importance for both the Indian automotive industry (with the practical knowledge disseminated in the car showrooms), as well as for the owners of cars, the potential listeners of DRM digital broadcasts.

Dr. Rao has been actively organising roadshows for digital radio listeners, demonstrations in car showrooms and through live demo video conferences.

His grassroots campaign is in progress. Below are some examples of pictures taken during his promotions.

(Click pictures for a larger view)

Organisation of these awareness campaigns in car showrooms in 2021

Dr. Rao has conducted 32 such live video conferences from his native Vizag, Andhra Pradesh, on DRM awareness in the period 22 June 2021 to 31 December 2021 for all the Indian states listed under Live DRM Awareness Campaign Demonstrations

The DRM awareness programmes covered 28 sales managers, customer relations managers and trainers of car showrooms in other states. The car showroom awareness campaigns were organised for major car brands such Maruti Suzuki, Hyundai, MG Motors, Toyota and Mercedes Benz.

Each car manufacturer’s Territory Sales Manager in each of the Indian states was contacted by phone with an explanation about the live video conference and the chance to also offer feedback at the end of the sessions. The video events were spread over a period of 28 days.

Multiple video conferences were held in Hyderabad (Telangana State), Chennai, Kolkata, Bengaluru, and Mumbai for both simulcast and pure DRM reception in DRM car radios. The live video conferences also involved the Deputy Director General and Engineers of All India Radio, whenever they were available. In addition, a Sales Manager/ Customer Relation Manager of the car showroom was seated in the car to operate the DRM digital radio as per the guidelines given by Dr. Rao in his moderator role. The sales executives of the car showrooms also watched the promotional activities in the showrooms.

The generic DRM promotional video can be seen by clicking the link below.  It is also available in three languages

The Live Video Conferences were opened with a DRM digital radio demo of four minutes to demonstrate the sound and features of DRM digital radio. After that the Deputy Director General / Engineer explained the coverage of DRM digital transmission, benefits and advantages of DRM and differences between analogue and DRM digital broadcasts.

After all this “hands-on” activity, questions were invited from the sales managers. These covered mainly the following topics:

1. Early awareness of the DRM standard
2. Impressions on the present awareness campaign
3. Quality of the technology
4. Quality of the digital audio
5. Awareness of the Journaline features
6. Motivating customers to use the digital radio

The feedback given by the respondents to the questions above were

1. No early awareness so event very welcome
2. This campaign is new to them
3. The technology is very impressive
4. Better than FM quality

Support for overall customer education for DRM is required (covering points 5 and 6)

Dr. Rao has demonstrated what can be achieved with perseverance and dedication, the only ways to bring the benefits closer to the promoters and ultimately users and beneficiaries of the DRM technology.

All India Radio Stations Broadcasting in DRM MW

Source: Prasarbharati.gov.in – tune and enjoy new car DRM radio – Designed by Dr.Thamminana KR

Live DRM Awareness Compaign Demonstrations