HELP YAMUNA

TitleHELP YAMUNA
BrandSWECHHA
Product / ServiceNON-GOVERNMENT ORGANISATION
CategoryA05. Best Use of Ambient Media: Large Scale
EntrantMcCANN WORLDGROUP INDIA Mumbai, INDIA
Entrant Company McCANN WORLDGROUP INDIA Mumbai, INDIA
Advertising Agency McCANN WORLDGROUP INDIA Mumbai, INDIA

Credits

Name Company Position
Raoul Amaar Abbas Photographer
Gagandeep Singh Print2tape Production
Kunal Ahuja Print2tape Production
Girish Kumar Mccann Worldgroup Production Manager
Kuldeep Soni Mccann Worldgroup Digital Studio Manager
Chetan Kukreti Mccann Worldgroup Art Director
Rupesh Sahay Mccann Worldgroup Art Director
Vineet Mahajan Mccann Worldgroup Art Director
Varun Katyal Mccann Worldgroup Copy Writer
Ashish Chakravarty Mccann Worldgroup Copy Writer
Vineet Mahajan Mccann Worldgroup Creative Director
Ashish Chakravarty Mccann Worldgroup Executive Creative Director
Prasoon Joshi Mccann Worldgroup National Creative Director

Results and Effectiveness

Thanks to the installation in the river, soon bloggers started supporting the cause. Leading national dailies and news channels too took notice of the Yamuna’s plea, and reported the issue. On 22nd March, 2012, The World Water Day 50 schools, 74 colleges, 3000 NCC cadets arrived at a specified location on the banks of Yamuna. In all, over 13000 volunteers showed up to clean up the river. The government finally took notice and announced a Rs. 1357 crore project to install a much needed drain interceptor on the river.

Creative Execution

We thought, what if instead of using conventional medium, or celebrity spokespersons, we got the river to speak for itself? We collected the disposable plastic bottles thrown as garbage from the river itself and made a curious installation out of it. A message in the river that asked for “HELP.” At night tiny LEDs lit up the same message. Over the next few days as the news spread, and people’s curiosity grew, announcements in trains, and popular Radio stations guided them. In and around the site, pamphlets were distributed. All explained the extent and the urgency of the problem. It asked everyone to come and clean their river on a specified date.

Insights, Strategy and the Idea

The 22 km stretch of the river that flows through Delhi contributes to 80% of the total pollution in the river. Every year, the city ejects millions of liters of sewage and more than 50 tons of non-disposable plastic waste into it. Our client Swechha, an NGO, wanted to raise public awareness to clean and save the Yamuna. By mobilizing citizen groups, corporates and the general public, we wanted to bring the plight of the river to the attention of the city’s authorities and the media. In spite of Yamuna being the source of 70% of city’s drinking water needs, just like the government, citizens too had become immune to the sight of garbage and plastic in the river. Keeping this in mind, we wanted to make the citizens and the government realise that if they didn’t act soon, they could lose their single largest source of disposable water.