My Startup: the inaugural contest

Read the campaign story

A biscuit brand can tell homemakers to believe in themselves, but belief does not provide startup money. Britannia Marie Gold’s inaugural My Startup contest connected its encouragement to a concrete opportunity. Launch coverage from December 2018 describes a competition offering ten homemakers ₹10 lakh each for business ideas. Entries continued into January 2019, and the first winners were announced in March.

The launch used a Lowe Lintas television commercial and a longer JWT digital film. Its entry route also mattered: the pack carried a missed-call number, while a website offered another way in. Initial responses led to follow-up questions and a selection process. Britannia’s later company-issued release described 1.5 million entries in the first edition. That is a reported participation figure, not proof that the same number of viable businesses were created.

The creative mechanism is to turn a positioning statement into an allocated resource. Rather than ask the audience to admire an empowering message, the brand gives a defined group a reason to take a first step. The connection to a familiar household product can make the invitation visible during an ordinary routine. Meanwhile, the application process gives the brand something more substantive to talk about than an inspirational film: ideas, applicants and eventual recipients.

The lesson for a small organisation is not to imitate the scale of a national prize fund. It is to identify a specific barrier and provide enough support to remove it for a manageable number of people. A useful contest needs clear rules, fair selection and an honest account of what happens afterward. This case is bounded to the initial 2018–2019 edition; later training partnerships belong to its evolution. Treat entry volume as evidence of response, then measure whether recipients actually gained useful capacity rather than assuming participation equals empowerment.

Fund the next step

Identify the smallest real obstacle the audience faces, then make the campaign deliver a resource that removes it for named recipients.

Put the invitation inside an existing routine

Use packaging or another familiar touchpoint to explain who can apply and how. Offer an accessible alternative to a long online form.

Report outcomes beyond entries

Separate applicants, awards delivered and subsequent progress. Publish selection criteria before promotion begins.

A small test for another brief

Pilot a transparent micro-grant or practical-support offer for five people in an existing customer community.

Support actually delivered and recipient-defined progress after 30 days, separately from application volume.

Do not launch unless funding, fair selection, privacy protection and follow-through are secured.

• Interview five prospective participants to identify a concrete barrier.
• Publish eligibility, judging criteria, support value and a realistic delivery schedule.
• Run one application round and obtain separate consent for any public recipient stories.