SLIENT NATIONAL ANTHEM

Short List
TitleSLIENT NATIONAL ANTHEM
BrandRELIANCE MEDIA WORKS
Product / ServiceBIG CINEMAS
CategoryB02. Consumer Services
EntrantMUDRA COMMUNICATIONS Mumbai, INDIA
Entrant Company:MUDRA COMMUNICATIONS Mumbai, INDIA
PR/Advertising Agency:MUDRA COMMUNICATIONS Mumbai, INDIA

Credits

Name Company Position
Bobby Pawar Mudra Communications Chief Creative Officer
Bobby Pawar Mudra Communications Copywriter
Deepak Singh Mudra Communications Art Director
Amit Sharma Chrome Pictures P. Ltd. Director
Hemant Bhandari Chrome Pictures P. Ltd. Producer
Aaliyah Sen Sharma Chrome PIctures P. Ltd. Producer

The Campaign

It started in Big Cinema’s movie theaters and spilled over into the consciousness of a nation. It created a medium out a legal requirement. It reinterpreted one of the most hallowed possessions of a nation, its national anthem. And in doing so, it got Big Cinemas get earned media worth milliions across the whole spectrum of media: Newspapers, TV channels, Facebook, Blogs, Twitter, Magazines and Radio.

The Brief

To start a social conversation around an issue that is insidiously dividing our nation. To spark dialogue in the media and the people.

Results

- Leading TV Channels covered the film and ran it free of cost for a few days. - 38 articles in newspapers and magazines. - Coverage by 5 leading FM Channels. - Thousands of blog mentions and tweets. Including those by Bollywood stars and opinion leaders. - The Creative Review UK, named it the 3rd most viraled campaign in the world. - Total earned media $5.3 million. Media cost, zero.

Execution

In the days before 26th January, India’s 62nd Republic Day, we shared the Silent National Anthem with journalists, media owners, Bollywood stars and opinion leaders. Then we waited or the idea to work its magic. And it did.

The Situation

India is the world’s language capital, with 21 languages and thousands of dialects. This diversity often takes the ugly form of division when people who speak one tongue discriminate against those who speak another. This created an opportunity for Big Cinemas to step in and rally the hearts of all Indians to the cause of unity.

The Strategy

Since the domain of the brand is film, we would create one. But not just any film. Movie theatres in India are legally bound to play the national anthem before every show. So we created the ‘Silent National Anthem’, a film that reinterpreted the National Anthem, thus turning a national property into a medium for a moving message of unity. This powerful stimulus became the tool with which we generated almost unprecedented buzz with $45,000 budget (which by the way, was the cost of producing the film).