India is the TB capital of the world, contributing 26% to the global TB burden. Despite the disease being
curable and treatment available free of cost at government health care centers, millions go undiagnosed every
year. It is estimated that ~1 TB related death occurs every minute in India.
32% of the country’s TB burden is shouldered by the youth (15-29 years) of the country and are critical
drivers of transmission. They are less likely to seek care due to lack of awareness of TB symptoms, stigma
associated with the disease, delayed health seeking behavior and structural barriers in accessing complex
health systems.
Recognizing Youth as a catalyst of change, a novel, digital-first initiative, “Be the Change” for TB
was launched on the occasion of World TB day, 24th March 2022 with four key objectives:
Increase awareness on Tuberculosis in the target audience
o By atleast 20% in a year’s time as measured through the change from baseline in TB
related keyword search volume results and pre and post survey results on awareness
Youth sign up as ‘TB Changemakers”
o Who would serve as the focal points in disease awareness dissemination
Youth Engagement
o Engagement of youth on digital channels (website & social media) measured
through social media impressions, video views, shares, likes etc.
Improvement in health seeking behavior
o As measured through the number of clicks through and downloads of Arogya Saathi
app (TB citizen app), number of people calling on the national TB helpline number and
increase in trend of health seeking related search keywords
“Be the Change” for TB is a digital first, precision marketing-based initiative backed with insights from
primary & secondary research and data analytics targeting youth (18-29 years) in 8 geographies of the country.
The digital deployment of the campaign enabled to understand the audience, their personas , motivators, and
barriers. Digital signals further enabled right targeting and deployment of programmatic messaging
Leveraging existing audience cohorts of in-market & affinity audiences by enabling technologies like Google’s
marketing platforms like Display, Google Search ads and FB & IG platforms helped reach out to targeted youth.
Our creative strategy aimed to inspire youth and speak to them in their language. We used music as a medium
of expression to trigger and normalize conversation on TB. In collaboration with youth influencers- Vaani
Kapoor, well known Bollywood celebrity and Kaam Bhari, a young rap artist , the initiative was launched with an
engaging rap song all digital platforms. Besides influencer led content , we partnered with youth centric
platforms like Terribly Tiny tales, Logical Indian and Humans of Bombay to reach the audience with different
forms of engaging content while continuing interest through informative social media content .
Further , the campaign was supported through organic media coverage and building thought advocacy on the
focus required on youth to make TB free India in collaboration with key stakeholders and multilateral
organizations including National TB Program, under Ministry of Health , India.
Programmatic media targeting was deployed using Google Marketing platforms- Display, Search and
FB/IG/YT ads to reach the right audience while creating Moments that Matter !
Quirky content formats, youth-centric channels, collaborative features on social media were leveraged to create
informative, engaging content on TB awareness and health-seeking behavior.
The online activations on IG channels like #Team up for TB (hookstep video) or sharing survivor stories of grit
encouraged youth to engage and start an open conversation about TB. The campaign reached to ~7.6
million accounts through its social media handles.
Given the complex topic such as Tuberculosis, which is shadowed by stigma, it was a challenging ask to pen
down the creative and deployment strategy that not just resonates with youth but engages them and enables
youth to take action. The multiple dimensions involved with this topic had to be handles with sensitivity and
utmost create to touch the right chord of the target audience. Given this was the EVER FIRST digital and
precision marketing led initiative towards solving a public health issue like Tuberculosis , there was no playbook
to reference.
With strong insights, research and partnerships, we will were able to build the blocks of this puzzle and with a
strong purpose and plan in hand, “Be the Change” for TB was launched on World TB Day this year
#Bethe Change for TB achieved impressive outcomes, surpassing most of its yearly objective within 3
months of launch .
Just a day post launch, the campaign triggered conversations in the country and “Be the Change” for TB
’was among the top 3 twitter trending hashtags in the country. Earning a media coverage from 190+ publications in national & regional media, campaign reached to 280 million plus readers.
Early success indicators towards increase in awareness were seen with 12% uplift, from baseline, in TB
related keyword google search volume compared to PY in the target geographies. This was further
corroborated with increase in high affinity pin code conversions from 40 to 70 in the target geographies
#BetheChange for TB achieved impressive outcomes, surpassing most of its yearly objective within just
3 months of launch and so far , the initiative has garnered
Reach to 49 million target youth
260 million Impressions
~1.3 million unique users on website
8.9 million Engagements across its social media and
33K youths signed up as TB Changemakers
Early success indicators towards increase in awareness were seen with 12% uplift, from baseline, in TB
related keyword google search volume compared to PY in the target geographies. This was further
corroborated with increase in high affinity pin code conversions from 40 to 70 in the target geographies
Further, more than 28000 unique health seeking actions taken as measured through click through
towards TB information through National TB helpline and TB citizen app downloads. The initiative high
engagement with partnerships with youth centric platforms like Logical India and Humans of Bombay as
well as user generated content.
The campaign was recognized as one of the best practices by Central TB Division, under Ministry of
Health and Family welfare ,India. The early results and approach are invited as presentation in one of the
International Lung Health Conference ,UNION 2022 – thus building a model of practice to evidence.
Additionally, the campaign also received organic support from various influencers including member of
Parliament, multilateral organizations like FIND, UNION SEA etc. and sports & Bollywood celebrities on
twitter. Several media & marketing platforms covered novel approach of uncovering the disease with the
usage of music & digital as a medium of spreading awareness and leveraging youth as a catalyst of
change .
