After hollywood came out with much appreciated action flick - Troy , almost every one knows about the history behind famous Trojan horse. Just for the unpardonables, the legend goes, the long drawn out Trojan War was fought over Helen of Sparta (a Greek polis) who had been carried away by Paris of Troy. Finally, the Greeks tricked the citizens of Troy into accepting a large wooden horse (in which they had hidden their warriors) as a sign of the latter's victory. During the night, the warriors emerged and overran the city. Helen was returned to her husband, Menelaus.

Years have gone by and the legend still enthuses and amuses people. So when Sify came to Ogilvy for a direct marketing campaign for Sify Assure what came out was an innovative ad campaign. "One of the reasons for choosing this concept was that our target audience identified/related to it as computer virus as well as for the ever popular story. We thought it would be appropriate as it related to both the breach of Troy, which was always thought to be impenetrable, as well as a computer virus which could destroy your precious data," says Madhok, adding that today's corporates are not sensitive to information security despite the great risk.

Sify's strategy was to drive home the point to 439 CEOs and CTOs by sending them a wooden horse with a trapdoor in its belly which contained a note saying `Your security has been breached.' It urged them to log on to a Web site with a unique password (for each person) mentioned in the note and greeted them by name with a letter introducing Sify Assure and case studies of security breaches in firms.

This very unique password enabled Sify to identify which CEO or CTO had logged in. Sify's call centre would then call him or her to judge their interest, and if they were classified a hot prospect, would go on to fix an appointment to discuss the product. Those who had not logged in would be sent a reminder three days later.

Of the 439 mailers sent, 199 prospects logged in, which is a 44.6 per cent response. For any DM campaign, this is a great success. Each hand-made wooden horses cost Rs 350 a piece. "If we had branded the horse, the campaign may not have been such a big success," says Madhok, "people wouldn't have liked to display it." They also decided not to make the wheels move because people would then tend to turn it into a toy. Rather than recognise it for the reminder it is meant to be!

This is yet another guerilla by Piyush Pandey's team, which is now known for its out of box ad ideas. A halcyon reminder of Fevicol campaigns. *sigh*

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