SPOTuk brings agile marketing to Sri Lanka

By Cheranka Mendis

Introducing the concept of agile marketing to Sri Lanka, SPOTuk is Sri Lanka’s latest brand marketing company, offering fast, interactive and fun brand promotion campaigns.

Started by four friends looking to venture out and make a difference, the company brings together two ends of the marketing world – the traditional and the modern – while giving back to the country via the infamous three-wheeler (or tuk) drivers.

Having been in operation only since August this year, enough hype has been created about SPOTuk with their eye catching banners and back-to-back campaigns on Facebook.

A Founder Member and Director Lasith Lansakara told the Daily FT that SPOTuk is a new and innovative Below-The-Line (BTL) marketing platform ideal for focused short-run and targeted marketing campaigns. “We amalgamate two of the most common forms of advertising to create what is known as agile marketing and offer customers the satisfaction of most eye ball in a short period of time.”

Explaining the concept of agile marketing, which he describes as a fairly new concept to the country, Lansakara stated that the concept allows marketers to have an evolving campaign message by running a short (one- to two-month) umbrella campaign messages through outdoor three-wheeler banners.

“We developed the concept of agile marketing to give marketers and brand managers an opportunity to utilise the traditional marketing concepts as well as social media to create an advertising campaign that is not static. What we have done with SPOTuk is that we used the outdoor media forum to initially launch an umbrella brand message and then use the social media platform, Facebook, to capture consumer reaction.” Marketers can capture the consumer interaction with their campaign message through the SPOTuk Facebook portal. This enables constant monitoring and evaluation of the human reaction for the ad campaigns which, when done through the traditional media, cannot entirely be grasped.

“Through this one can analyse consumer response through interactions on facebook and launch sub-messages through Facebook to respond to consumer sentiments,” he said. “The concept is ideally suited for entities looking to launch targeted messaging about new products, new store openings or even awareness campaigns.”

Lansakara assured that through their initial launch on Galle Road, over five million impressions are expected to be yielded on a monthly basis, 1.3 million a week during a 16-hour operating day between 6 a.m. and 10 p.m.

Having already launched their first product display featured by the International Labour Organization (ILO), raising awareness about sexual harassment towards women in the workplace, the response has been good from customer perspective and consumer perspective, and even from the 100 or so three-wheeler drivers currently carrying the banner.

“We have over 200 three-wheelers registered under us and our hope is to extend this to a larger number in the coming few months as we expand our area of operation from Galle Road to suburbs such as Nugegoda, Rajagiriya, Nawala and Battaramulla.”

Some of the prime three-wheeler parks carrying the ads include Savoy Theatre, Wellawatte, Bambalapitiya Flats, Majestic City, Bambalapitiya, Galle Face Hotel, Colpetty, Taj Colombo, Colpetty and Hilton Residence, Union Place.

Speaking on what made the four – Jerome Perera, Rashmi Assirige, Kumudini David-Perera and Lansakara – start SPOTuk, he stated that they had been bouncing around ideas to start on their own for some time when Assirige spotted a ‘Fly not too high, fall not too low’ statement across the back shield of a three wheeler and noticed that it was at the perfect height to be noticed by pedestrians and motorists alike.

Even though brand promotion through three-wheelers and other forms of transportation is not new to the country, linking it up with the fast-moving social media network such as Facebook is the catch here. “Even though the idea was in operation we believe it has not been utilised to its maximum. Most ad campaigns right now are not as organised and are not regularly updated, therefore carrying old and faded prints.”

Lansakara said: “When we initially approached the three-wheeler drivers, most were weary because a lot of them have been burnt by other ad campaigns where they have been promised to get paid after three weeks and they haven’t been paid. When they saw us paying cash up-front and coming back, they were extremely supportive.”

Bringing in a social element to the process, three-wheelers have been chosen to provide a steady, alternative income stream for the driver while using one of their most under-utilised assets for greater value to our corporate sponsors.

As of December 2011, it is estimated that there are some 600,000 three-wheelers operating across Sri Lanka, with the bulk in Colombo. “Our recent survey showed that the drivers make on average about Rs. 15,000 to 25,000 a month working up to 12-hour days. However, with rising fuel prices and the general cost of living, it is becoming increasingly harder to make a living. A significant share of our costs is paid to our partnered drivers on a monthly basis, prior to the start of each campaign,” he said. “It is not always about our bottom line, it is about making a difference.”