SanDisk celebrates festivals with flash

An on-ground activity by the flash memory maker, SanDisk targets SEC B, C and D

With the growing need to store data, storage space always seems to run short. And with mobile devices becoming ubiquitous, the need to be able to access anything and everything is leading to the exponential growth of memory devices.

To tap this growing potential, the flash memory maker, SanDisk has launched the SanDisk Memory Yatra, which aims to reach out to gizmo-geeks of all ages. The pan-India activity involves educating the target group about the benefits of flash memory.

"The importance of memory is very high right now, with the surge in digital devices. So, this initiative will allow us to engage our customers and make them more familiar with our products," says Manisha Sood, country manager, SanDisk India & SAARC.

The activity aims to make the target group aware of the company's wide range of offerings, which is available at various price points. "Consumers know about memory cards, but they do not pay attention to these memory devices. When they buy a digital camera, they don't pay attention to which brand of memory card they should use or what capacity they need. With this initiative, we want them to know about the availability of our products in various capacities and various price points," Sood explains.

The initiative is being rolled out to reach various cities in the country during various festivals. It covers Jaipur, Chandigarh, Kochi, Pune, Hyderabad, Varanasi, Ahmedabad, Lucknow and Guwahati. The SanDisk memory van will traverse all the hot spots of the various cities it travels to.

Sood says, "In big cities, consumers have a lot more digital devices to handle. But in a smaller town, the phone becomes the only important device that people carry with them everywhere and use it as everything -- to save pictures, music or any other data. This leads to the need for high-capacity memory cards."

Also, phones today are loaded with more features, and are also very affordable. For instance, a particular Nokia phone costs about Rs 2,500 and allows 8 GB of storage. So, with respect to this campaign, the company's primary target is SEC B, C and D, who are aware of memory cards, but do not know what type of cards best suit their needs.

Thus, the canters are designed to engage with the consumers, while demonstrating the entire product range of SanDisk. The mobile van has a signature wall and memory wall set up for the product demo. The inside of the van is divided into three zones: USB, mobile and imaging.

The USB zone focuses on the company's USB flash memory devices; the mobile zone emphasises the memory-card-range for mobile phones; whereas the imaging zone is about the memory cards used in digital cameras. The three zones in the canter will help the respective consumers understand the nuances involved while buying memory devices.

In this initiative, the company will use one branded canter that will move around the city for seven days. The company will promote the activity through radio and inform the audience about the movement of the canter. At the canter, the consumers can learn about the various products of the company and also under what which product suits them more and why. To engage the audience, the company will conduct games and quizzes, where consumers could also stand to win prizes.

With the growing potential of mobile devices, the demand for memory cards has been on the rise across all regions in India, especially among the youth. "There are about 140 million handsets sold in India this year, and about 40 per cent of them come with memory slots," says Sood about the market scenario.

The market is expanding as more consumers gravitate towards phones that can play music, take high-resolution photos, access the Internet and play/record video. India is one of the fastest-growing mobile phone markets and is currently identified as the third largest mobile market in the world.