Calls to ACB helpline up 10-fold, thanks to marketing strategies

The state Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB)’s office has never been a dull place. However, ever since the advent of its toll-free helpline number earlier this year, the department’s officials have had no time to spare. For, thanks to its state-wide campaign to popularise the number, ACB has seen a ten-fold rise in calls by victims reporting corrupt officials in various departments of the state.

According to ACB joint director GS Malik, earlier, they used to receive four to five calls a day. “However, after the launch of the toll-free number in June this year, we now receive nearly 40 calls a day. The idea behind the helpline was to encourage people from all the strata of the society to come forth, and it seems to be working,” said Malik.

The rise in the number of calls has also registered a rise in cases against corrupt officials, he said, estimating the current annual number of cases at 200. This is also higher than earlier, Malik said. With many now carrying mobile phones that can record voice, take images and videos, ACB has also seen people to be more comfortable in bringing such material as proof, he added.

Malik credits the popularity of the ACB toll-free number with what he refers to as the department’s ‘marketing campaign’.

“To increase our reach in various areas among the populace, we have put up posters, hoardings at various places as well as made announcements on air,” he said.

Elaborating on the efforts made by ACB in its outreach programme to all areas, its deputy director, Sujata Majmudar, said that hoardings promoting the toll-free helpline have been put up in seven major cities of the state – Ahmedabad, Vadodara, Surat, Rajkot, Bhavnagar, Junagadh and Jamnagar.

“We have also supplied slides of the posters to many multiplexes in these major cities, which they show during movie intervals,” said Majmudar.

“We have also had short video adverts made and aired regularly on local TV channels and cable networks at prime time. In addition, we have also had popular FM stations air ‘quickie ads’ about the helpline,” said Majmudar adding that print ads have also been published in two widely read Gujarati language magazines. She further said that the posters have been put up on 440 GSRTC buses plying across the state.

“We have also planned various themes for the print ads so to make it seem fresh and attract more attention,” she explained.

According to Malik, this marketing strategy has succeeded in bringing in a wider audience of complainants.

“While we nabbed a sales tax official on charges of nearly Rs23 lakh bribery, we also nabbed public health centre (PHC) employees, who would charge Rs100 for dispensing free malaria medicines in rural areas,” he said, adding that most number of cases had been registered against home department officials and class-2 officers.