Government, industry hire ad agency to boost steel sales

02 February 2007

New Delhi: When all else fails, start advertising. In a bid to boost the low steel consumption of steel in rural areas, the government and the steel industry have hired advertising giant JWT to launch a nationwide steel awareness campaign.

Per capita steel consumption in rural areas is only 2kg, compared to 80kg in the urban areas. In a bid to spread awareness about the benefits of using steel, advertising giant JWT has been asked to launch a countrywide generic steel promotion campaign next month, with assistance from consulting firm Mindshare.

Rs20 crore has been assigned as the campaign budget for this year, for which domestic utilities will contribute Rs3 crore while the government would provide the rest. Each company will contribute Rs5 per tonne on its last year's sales for the campaign to raise the Rs3 crore.

The objective of the campaign is to convey that steel is a durable commodity and due to its life cycle, it was not expensive.

The decision to launch the campaign was taken at a meeting convened by Institute of Steel Development and Growth (INSDAG)

The decision by steel majors follows a directive by the steel ministry asking them to popularise steel usage in the country. Steel Minister Ram Vilas Paswan has also asked for the steel distribution network in the rural areas to be streamlined.