How two IIM Calcutta graduates are helping brands reach out to 90% people, and that too OFFLINE

Meet two management graduates - Neeraj Sharda and Sudhanshu Goyal - who are trying to redefine the offline advertising landscape using Chikoop - an audio mobile marketing solution for phones, and 8Hoarding - a venture to change the way outdoor advertising industry works in India.

8Hoarding leverages big data intelligence, sophisticated mathematical models and inputs of advertising veterans to help brands select the right outdoor media for their campaigns. It uses patented technology to provide users with quality of telecom calls without internet and without any top-ups. Also they can get information about relevant products and deals & avail them through the platform. The platform offers lot of engaging features like social media and offline chat messenger making it a complete experience for users. As an innovative marketing solution, Chikoop enables brands to market to their target audience by placing ads during free calls. Since the solution works on all phones with or without internet, it gives brands access to 90% of the people in India- higher than TV, Radio, Print and Online put together. Also unlike offline marketing, brands can track leads, re-target interested audience and measure real-time analytics on clicks. Chikoop has received over-whelming response from brands including ventures of IIM and IIT alumni from sectors including e-commerce, food-tech and deals aggregation.

The duo feels that even as Indian businesses are adopting the online way of doing things, offline still holds the key to success provided the power of technology and big data analytics is leveraged to make the old medium smarter.

Sharda is a management graduate from IIM Calcutta and an Electrical Engineering graduate from IIT Bombay. He has been a star in academics since his early school years, achieving state ranks in class 10th and 12th and securing place on Institute’s Honor Roll of IIM Calcutta. He has also worked as strategy consultant with Bain & Co. and Tata Strategy Management Group. Meanwhile, Sudhanshu Goyal also an IIM Caclutta graduate of 2015 batch has already served as CEO of a prominent manufacturing firm in steel industry. He joined his family business struggling against Global Recession of 2008, after dropping out from a premier Institute to help his father and led its turnaround at an early age of 18.

“The contrasting backgrounds of me and Neeraj led to long and aggressive debates nights after nights during product conceptualization but now we realize that it has helped create a sophisticated offering as both of us approach things from two different angles and then converge to an understanding with the virtues of both”, says Sudhanshu.

Their venture has already earned awards and recognitions in its name like Hot Pitch Kolkata award from the prestigious startup network TiECON. They were among top 40 globally in Rice University b-plan competition, among top teams in Tata Social Enterprise Challenge and multiple international competitions conducted by IIM Calcutta.

The duo raised an angel fund for product development and building initial traction following which the team strived hard for 15 months to deliver a perfect product for customers. Having achieved the first milestone, they are now in talks to raise a seed fund from able investors to take this to the next level.