Mixed Route Juice wins advertising mandate for Project Vikalp

It plans to boost contraceptive use and awareness through multimedia campaigns utilising mobile-first strategies.

Mixed Route Juice, a social and content agency, has bagged the complete 360 advertising (ATL & BTL), marketing and digital mandate in a multi-agency pitch for Project Vikalp, working in the space of Women’s sexual rights by Ipas Development Foundation for rural regions in Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, and Assam.

In 2016, India expanded its contraceptive basket with the inclusion of injectable DMPA and centchroman in the national program. According to the release, from (National Family Health Survey) NFHS-4 to NFHS-5, India witnessed an improvement in contraceptive use and unmet need, but the decline in teenage childbearing was minimal (7.9% in NFHS-4, 2015-16 to 6.8% in NFHS-5, 2019-21).

Also, modern contraceptive use among married adolescents and young women, although increasing over time, has been rather low. In NFHS-4, only 7% of married adolescents and 26% of young women were using modern methods of contraception, which increased to 19% and 32%, respectively in NFHS-5.

Both married adolescent girls and young women reported a high unmet need for contraception. In NFHS-4, 27% of adolescents and 21% of young women reported an unmet need for contraception, which declined to 18% and 17% respectively in NFHS-5. The improvement in the usage of injectable contraceptives also has shown a very minimal increase from 0.2 in NFHS-4 to 0.6% in NFHS-5.

The Vikalp project aims to focus on improving the use of reversible contraceptives among women/couples of zero and one parity by supporting the health system to train more providers from lower-level public sector facilities – PHCs and SCs.

The project aims to build awareness about reversible contraceptives through multimedia including cable TV, radio, wall painting, social media, community mobilisation & engagement, to strengthen and support government platforms/programs.

Speaking on the win Amrita Sharma, founder & creative head at Mixed Route Juice, said, “This project opens up a whole new territory for us. With this, we will be able to give a fresh new perspective to communication in the development sector. It is the need of the hour, considering how the market has been cluttered with organisations trying to raise the bar in creative communication campaigns. We will look at it from the lens of a mobile-first approach to tap into rural audiences. Our goal is to bring about change that really matters and Ipas Development Foundation is just the right partner for it.”

Vipul Malviya, communications head at Ipas Development Foundation said, “We are very excited to collaborate with Mixed Route Juice for ‘Vikalp’ and believe they will be able to make it the talk of the society at large. MRJ’s dynamic and young team is the best fit for this and we look forward to a great association.”