Tuesday, August 30, 2011

CASE STUDY: Techtronics Education

Business Objective: To revolutionize the Indian School Education System under the “National Curriculum Framework” of NCERT, and provide a hands-on, activity based learning system to school students. Techtronics helps schools in setting up and running robotics activity clubs and teacher training programs all across India.

Marketing Objective: To cater to Learning by Doing –the mantra behind Techtronics Education. Started in 2006, Techtronics Education has tied up with world’s leading learning solutions provider and manufacturer of products for hands-on, activity based learning - LEGO Education - as their exclusive partner and distributor in India. They also planned to extend this system to a franchise model to expand it beyond schools.

Communication Objective: To create awareness about Techtronics Education and its products and programmes and to establish the Techtronics brand as a key player in revolutionizing the Indian education sector with the help of Robotics in education and activity based learning.

Focus Area: Apart from the overall brand building process for Techtronics the PR mandate also included to specifically highlight the involvement of Techtronics Education in exclusively organizing the Indian chapters of World Robot Olympiad (WRO) – the prestigious Indian Robot Olympiad (IRO) and FIRST LEGO League (FLL) India.

PR Strategy: Channel PR devised a two tier PR Strategy that on one hand took an overall brand building approach at a macro level while on the other hand focused on supporting and expanding the reach of Techtronics Education and its activities at its target regions at a micro level.

PR Campaign: For the overall brand promotion strategy Channel PR focused on establishing the credentials of the brand, establishing the key spokesperson Mr. Sudhanshu Sharma and Mr. Apurva Kalia as torch bearers of robotics learning in education in India. The tools most intensively used here was One-on-One interactions and bridge building meetings with the media to not only generate quality coverage that clearly goes with the communication objective but also establishes a long lasting relationship with the media. The media activities were targeted to provide authenticated information to target group of students and parents across leading metropolitans.

In the micro approach Channel PR focused on the regional media to reach the target regions with most effective communication and support the on-ground activities. Key here was to promote the IRO and FLL events most effectively in the regional press as well as to translate their success to Techtronics Education at the national level to showcase their seriousness in utilizing robotics in activity based learning education paradigm. Also the brand stories were further put across at the regional level to support any expansion and development plan in the region in terms of franchise association. Further, World Robotics Olympiad was highlighted for a global presence.

Apart from the traditional media route the focus was also to have an online outreach, which is crucial to any organization and more so for one working in technology space and with youngsters. As part of the online mandate Channel PR created social media optimization, multimedia content sharing and blogging.

SWOT Analysis:
Strength:
  • Techtronics Education is the exclusive partner and distributor in India for world’s leading learning solutions provider and manufacturer of products LEGO Education
  • Techtronics Education is the proud Indian National Partner of World Robot Olympiad (WRO) and organizes the prestigious Indian Robot Olympiad (IRO) across the country
  • Techtronics Education is also entrusted with organizing India chapter of FIRST LEGO League (FLL), jointly organized by FIRST, US and LEGO Group, Denmark
  • Already successful associations with many top schools across the country and good reviews from students, parents and teachers
Weakness:
  • Robotics perceived as a specialized branch of science and technology bearing less effects on other streams Conventional mindset of education just through text books still exists
Opportunities:
  • India with its sheer population size is a huge marketAccording to sector experts India's education sector presents an investment potential of US$ 100 billion over next 5 years
  • An increased competition in education has compelled Indian institutions to innovate their educational offerings and move beyond their traditional markets
  • Activity based learning and education is being supported by the governing bodies like Ministry of Education, CBSE and NCERTThe topic was interesting for the youngsters which was reflected in the huge response on the social media platforms
Threats:
  • Implementation weakness was the only threat as education and innovation in education are ever green branches of enterprise
Effect and Evaluation: The Public Relations campaign successful. The key objective of building up overall brand through a right mix of promoting the on-ground activities and highlighting profiling stories on the men behind the initiative was achieved successfully. The digital pr initiatives to build online visibility and reputation to the tech savvy target audience were impeccable and added further impetus to the business strategy to maximize outreach.

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