While most “marketing to millennials” strategies are being focused on young adults who are in the workforce and have their own disposable incomes, there is a population of millennials that are still in college and interact with brands in a different way. Activating these young adults, who are not quite on their own yet and are still heavily involved in the educational process, should a major focus for brands that are in the business of engaging millennials.
A few months back when I was chatting with an old friend who studies Arts in Delhi University, she asked whether I knew any organization that helps Students link up with multinational companies and provides discounts. Knowing this portal for quite some time I suggested her to visit IDOAG, one of the biggest platforms for student discounts and opportunities.
After this incident I got a chance to interact with the Co-Founder of IDOAG. In an interview with me Raghav, the marketer and Co-Founder, describes IDOAG, headquartered in Noida, as the one stop shop that addresses the needs of students to connect with the brands across all verticals by way of discounts, offers and internships which are over and above anything that exists in the market.
IDOAG was founded back in 2013 with the vision to create a need based platform for Students who want to be connected with the brands in their college days. Within a very short time span the startup has connected over 100,000 students and 60+ multinational brands pan India.
IDOAG currently stands as one of the leaders in their category and provide India’s First Student Discount Card in the hands of the users that can be used across 500+ cities, 2000+ Stores and various ecommerce partners and is actually much more than this.
Raghav proudly articulates the USP of IDOAG by saying, “We are partnered with over 60 Biggest Brands as of date and in discussions with an equal number of other Brands. This makes us the only organization to carry such a wide and strong Brand umbrella. All these are national brands with presence across the country.”
IDOAG goes beyond providing just the discounts and rather acts as an interface to cater to various other needs of the students such as internships, workshops, guest lectures and many more.
Currently the start-up has a 15 member team including the 3 Co-Founders. Raghav, himself is a serial entrepreneur and had a start-up called Hot Stuffing in Mumbai which is still running successfully and was Director Sales and Marketing for a fashion magazine prior to starting IDOAG.
“The PR is one of the most important tools when it comes to branding of a company”, says Raghav. He further introduces his Co-Founder Aeshna Kapoor, whose selling and PR skills give a boost to IDOAG.
Amish Sood, well versed with Target Group and understand the pulse of Students and carries knack of running impeccable on-ground operations. Fresh out of the college and carries the student connects.
When asked about the difficulties faced by IDOAG as a company Raghav explained, “One of the most difficult things when we started out was to get the Brands on-board without having even a single student/institution on-board. It was like a chicken and egg story –which comes first.”
“But we were successful in articulating our vision to all our Brand partners who believed in our concept and vision” He adds.
Nandini, a final year engineering student at the Chandigarh University says:
“IDOAG means a lot when it comes to discount coupons, be it shopping or birthday treats.”
Lenskart, Dominos, Pizza Hut, Myntra, Jabong, Louis Philippe, Van Heusen, Allen Solly, Peter England, KFC, LEE are a few names that are connected to the students through the IDAOG platform.
On being asked about the future plans of IDOAG, Raghav remarkably responds:
“Our upcoming revamped digital platform (website and mobile app) would provide an interface to all stakeholders to connect in a way which has never been done earlier in India. Brands and Institutions will be able to connect with the Students directly.”
He further adds:
“By Aug 2016, we intend to expand to Western and Southern parts of the country through expanded sales force and aim to have about 500,000 users through various institutions. Target Group for us over next 3 years is over 150 million users and we work with methods & strategies that keep our customer acquisition cost way lesser than what is prevalent in the market.”
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