JAT Holdings and Isobar Sri Lanka help carpenters and painters hit hard by COVID-19

Stepping up during the COVID-19 lockdown, JAT Holdings, the market leader in wood coatings in Sri Lanka for the past 25 years, and Isobar Sri Lanka, a leading full-service digital agency part of the global giant Dentsu Aegis network carried out a unique campaign to help carpenters and painters whose livelihoods were hard hit by pandemic restrictions. 

The campaign dubbed ‘Always there for the ones who need our help’ reached out to carpenters and painters across the nation, donating JAT products worth Rs. 15,000 daily to a lucky winner during the entire month of May. 

“At JAT, we’ve always maintained sincere, close rapport with our customers. We understand their needs and livelihoods well, which is why we decided on the tag, ‘Always there for the ones who need our help’ for this campaign. Soon after the lockdown measures were implemented, we became well aware of the financial difficulties that our customers (carpenters/ painters) had to reckon with. Their work suddenly came to a halt and most felt stranded and financially strapped. We stepped up promptly to set up means to help them rebuild their livelihoods. We wanted to help and hence we reached out to our agency, Isobar Sri Lanka. They helped us design this effective campaign and we were deeply touched by the response we received from our customers,” commented General Manager and Head of Marketing Dilshan Rodrigo.

JAT Holdings and Isobar Sri Lanka worked together to make use of JAT Holding’s well-established distributor network to source each required product and deliver those to winners within 24 hours. The campaign reached over 1.6 million low income earners through working with over 117,000 inquiries and engagements.  There were over 650 valid submission and 26 carpenters and house painters received products, each winner receiving products worth Rs. 15,000. 

“With COVID-19 lockdown, many carpenters and house painters suddenly found themselves going from earning a good income to having no income at all. Such financial worries can impact people’s mental wellbeing. Our approach was to work with our client (JAT) to see how we can support them and make sure people are in business on the other side,” commented Director Isobar and Response Marketing Mohenesh Chamith Buthgamuwa.

As the digital arm of Dentsu Aegis Network, the premier advertising agency in Sri Lanka, Isobar Sri Lanka is at the forefront of the digital revolution. The agency believes in bringing a human touch to the digital marketing realm by connecting consumer touch points that enable brands to engage consumers in new and innovative ways.