Elections are noisy.
Everyone has an opinion. Social media is loud. TV debates are louder. Data dashboards are full of charts, polls, and predictions. But somewhere in all of this, one question keeps getting ignored:
What are real people actually saying on the ground?
Not filtered. Not scripted. Not reduced to a percentage.
Just people. Speaking in their own words.
That was the gap we were trying to solve.
As a national news media organization, we wanted to go beyond studio debates and online polls. We wanted to hear directly from citizens- across towns, districts, and everyday public spaces. Not just metros. Not just vocal social media users. But voters who rarely get a microphone.
That’s when we partnered with Anaxee.
What followed wasn’t just a campaign. It became a new way of doing ground-level journalism at scale.
About the Media Group We Worked With
The media group we worked with is among the largest and most influential news organizations in India.
It operates across:
- Multiple national television channels
- High-traffic digital news platforms
- Regional language properties
- Print and multimedia formats
Every day, its content reaches tens of millions of Indians across urban and rural markets. Its editorial decisions shape public conversations, advertiser strategies, and national narratives.
For a group of this size, scale is not a choice. It is a constant operational reality.
However, like many large media houses today, the group was still grappling with a deeper question: how to stay genuinely connected to people on the ground in an age where opinions are loud, fragmented, and often misrepresented online. Studio debates, social media trends, and expert panels were no longer sufficient to understand what everyday citizens were actually thinking and feeling.
They wanted to go beyond assumptions and sentiment proxies.
They wanted direct, unfiltered voices from the ground—at scale.
The Real Problem: Ground Reporting Doesn’t Scale Anymore
Traditional field reporting has limits.
You can deploy reporters, stringers, camera crews—but:
- Coverage stays selective
- Costs rise quickly
- Verification becomes messy
- Scale breaks down outside big cities
Social media, on the other hand, gives scale—but no control.
- You don’t know who posted
- You don’t know where exactly it came from
- You can’t verify authenticity
- You can’t connect responses to geography in a structured way
We were stuck between depth without scale and scale without trust.
We needed both.
What We Were Looking For (And Rarely Found)
We weren’t looking for:
- Another survey agency
- Another influencer-style activation
- Another on-ground vendor who just “executes.”
We needed a system that could:
- Reach real citizens, not proxies
- Work across dozens of districts simultaneously
- Verify every response
- Move fast—weeks, not months
- Still feel human, not mechanical
That combination is harder than it sounds.
Enter Anaxee: A Very Different Approach
Anaxee didn’t pitch us “manpower.”
They didn’t pitch us “reach.”
They didn’t pitch us “buzz.”
They pitched infrastructure.
Specifically:
- A nationwide network of trained local Digital Runners
- A mobile-first tech platform for task execution and data capture
- A central dashboard that made ground activity visible in real time
In simple words:
people + process + proof, all connected.
That’s what made us pay attention.
The Idea on the Ground: Let Citizens Speak Directly
The core idea was simple.
Go to people.
Ask them one open question.
Let them respond in their own way.
No scripts. No leading prompts.
Citizens could:
- Record a short video message
- Or write their thoughts on a physical postcard
Both formats mattered.
- Videos captured emotion and tone
- Postcards captured depth and reflection
What mattered more was authenticity.
Execution at Scale: Where Most Campaigns Fail
This is where most ideas break.
Good concept. Weak execution.
But Anaxee approached execution like an engineering problem, not a marketing stunt.
What Actually Happened on the Ground
- 250+ Digital Runners were deployed
- Coverage spanned 70 districts
- Activity ran for just two weeks
- Over 4,000 citizen videos were recorded
- Over 8,000 handwritten postcards were collected
Every single response was:
- Geo-tagged
- Time-stamped
- Uploaded through Anaxee’s mobile app
- Visible on a live dashboard
There was no ambiguity about:
- Who collected it
- From where
- At what time
- With what proof
This wasn’t crowdsourcing.
This was controlled, verified field intelligence _Case Study – “Suniye Netaji” (….
Why the Digital Runner Model Worked
The most underrated part of this campaign was who was collecting the data.
These weren’t outsiders parachuted in.
They were local individuals- people who:
- Spoke the local language
- Knew the local context
- Understood social cues
- They were trusted in their neighborhoods
Anaxee calls them Digital Runners.
Think of them as:
Field reporters + booth-level workers + data collectors
…all supported by tech.
Each Runner was trained.
Each Runner followed a clear SOP.
Each Runner worked inside a system that enforced quality.
That combination is rare.
Technology That Didn’t Get in the Way
Here’s a hard truth:
Most “tech platforms” look impressive in demos and fail on the field.
This one didn’t.
Why?
Because it was built for low-bandwidth environments, real-world conditions, and non-technical users.
What the Platform Actually Did
- Assigned tasks clearly
- Captured attendance and activity
- Forced geo-tag and timestamp validation
- Required photo/video proof
- Synced everything to a central dashboard
For us, sitting in the newsroom, this meant:
- We could see progress district by district
- We could identify gaps instantly
- We could trust the data without second-guessing
No chasing vendors.
No manual reconciliation.
No “sir network issue tha” excuses.
From Ground Noise to Editorial Insight
Raw data alone is useless.
What mattered was how quickly we could:
- Review submissions
- Spot patterns
- Identify strong voices
- Build narratives around real concerns
Because everything was structured and tagged, our editorial teams could:
- Filter responses by geography
- Compare themes across regions
- Pull authentic soundbites directly from the field
This changed how stories were framed.
Instead of:
“Experts say voters are angry about X”
We could say:
“Here’s what voters themselves are saying, in their own words.”
That credibility is hard to manufacture.
A New Format Was Born
This wasn’t just a one-off activation.
It proved something bigger:
- Grassroots engagement doesn’t have to be slow
- Authentic voices can be captured at scale
- Technology can enhance journalism without diluting it
The campaign created a new format—one that sat between traditional reporting and digital-first storytelling.
And it worked.
Why This Model Is Hard to Copy
On paper, it looks simple.
In reality, it isn’t.
To replicate this, you’d need:
- A trained, incentivized, nationwide field network
- Clear SOPs that actually work on the ground
- A tech platform built for verification, not vanity
- Operational discipline across districts
- Real-time visibility and accountability
Most agencies have one or two of these.
Anaxee had all of them working together.
That’s the difference.
Beyond Media: Why This Matters More Broadly
While this project was for a media organization, the implications are larger.
This same model applies to:
- Political outreach
- Public consultations
- Policy feedback
- Brand trust studies
- Social impact programs
Anywhere, the problem is the same:
“We need real inputs from real people, at scale, without losing trust.”
The Real Takeaway
If there’s one lesson from this experience, it’s this:
Ground truth still matters.
But ground truth without systems is chaos.
And systems without humans are hollow.
Anaxee managed to balance both.
They didn’t replace people with technology.
They didn’t rely on people without technology.
They built a bridge between the two.
And for us, that made all the difference.
If your organization needs verified, district-level insights from real people — not proxies, not social media noise — Anaxee can help you build a system that captures ground truth at scale.
From media and public discourse to outreach and research, we work where authenticity actually matters.
👉 Talk to Anaxee’s Ground Intelligence Team, Connect with us at sales@anaxee.com
