The Campaign

Bangladesh was fighting for its mother tongue. On 21st February 1952, students defied the ruling government and came out into the streets. The police open fired. Students died, and their blood made sure that the day would be remembered, the year would be remembered, the language movement would be won, and date would slowly become not just the Mother Language Day of Bangladesh, but the International Mother Language Day for the whole world. However, over the years, the significance of this day has just become a memory and is commemorated through ads of major companies and processions to the memoriam of the martyrs. Grameenphone, the largest brand and company in Bangladesh, decided in 2010 that they wanted to do something more substantial than just print an ad – they wanted to remind the youth of today of the true essence of the day of 21st February.

Success of the Campaign

The result was phenomenal. The initiative was regarded as so innovative and effective that it was featured in popular talk shows, front page of newspapers, editorials, fan pages in facebook with over 10,000 fans, news reports in TV channels, radio programs and RJ announcements. The amount of PR generated from the campaign amounted to far higher than the cost of the campaign. The biggest response was of the people during the day of the event. Expected audience was around 20,000 at the main venue, which was exceeded by a sheer 1,00,000. The regional events also found packed crowds. The campaign helped bring back a part of history, history of the most significant 30 minutes in the identity of Bangladesh (which is named after the language Bangla), a history was almost forgotten, and make it relevant for the youth of today.

Describe how the campaign/entry was launched and executed across each channel in the order of implementation.

The strategy was to create a new symbol for the day, so people, specially youth, would respond to it at a new level. The police open-fired at 3:30pm on 21 February 1952. The Language Movement Martyrs laid down their lives within a 30 minute window. The creative idea was to promote the significance of 30 minutes and its achievement. The campaign was designed to recreate those minutes in the same and 6 other locations in the country, invite people to observe the historic event at the exact same time when it actually happened. ATL campaign of TVC, Press, RDC, OOH was designed to invite the people. The 30 minutes was recreated through a drama performance, in the presence of fighters from 1952. A major event was at the capital and 6 small events throughout the city. It was telecommuted live through 4 major TV-channels, facebook and other popular Bengali websites.