THE LIGHT BAG

Short List
TitleTHE LIGHT BAG
BrandSALAAM BAALAK TRUST
Product / ServiceSALAAM BAALAK TRUST
CategoryB05. Fundraising, charities, appeals, non-profit organisations, public health & safety, public awareness
EntrantCHEIL WORLDWIDE (INDIA) Gurgaon, INDIA
Entrant Company CHEIL WORLDWIDE (INDIA) Gurgaon, INDIA
Advertising Agency CHEIL INDIA Gurgaon, INDIA

Credits

Name Company Position
Nima Dt Namchu Cheil Chief Creative Officer
Anusheela Saha Cheil Senior Creative Director
Sudarshana Borgoyary Cheil Art Director
Anusheela Saha Cheil Art Director
Nima Dt Namchu Cheil Copywriter
Kanishk Sinha Cheil Copywriter
Sudarshana Borgoyary Cheil Photographer
Abdul Kamal Hans Studio Editor
Simran Sahni Cheil Group Creative Director
Anupama Ramaswamy Cheil Group Creative Director
Khima Pandey Cheil Image Retoucher
Hitesh Verma Cheil Image Retoucher

Results and Effectiveness

In just 45 days, the campaign has impacted the lives of more than 5000 slum children. The number of contributors have also gone up dramatically and generated coverage worth USD 1 million at no extra cost by garnering over 8 million media impressions. One of India’s leading English dailies, Hindustan Times – carried it as a front page story. It has also been featured in various design magazines and shared thousands of times on social media. This innovation has also been selected as a case study by KxSD – Knowledge x-change for Sustainable Development an initiative by The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI) supported by the UK Government.

Creative Execution

Our team made sure the idea turns out to be sustainable as well as scalable. Using local tailors, we created the Light Bag. We fitted solar panels and LED lights on the bags. The bags got charged when the children walked to school. And with just a turn of a flap, gave them light to study at night. The bags were made from the existing funds in Salaam Baalak. The project was initiated with a small number of 200 bags that were distributed in their schools. The media buzz helped in garnering thousands of new contributors, that made it possible to cover more slums with the distribution drive. Because of their effort over 5000 children in the slums of Delhi now study more comfortably at night using the Light Bag.

Insights, Strategy and the Idea

80-90% of Delhi's slums have limited access to electricity. Children living in these slums suffer from incessant power cuts that make it extremely difficult for them to study after sunset - leading to loss of interest and, eventually, dropping out of school. NGO Salaam Baalak Trust (SBT) runs many schools across the slums of Delhi and wanted a solution to this problem. It started with the simple insight that all school children have a constant companion - their school bag. We wanted to create a simple and sustainable solution using it. Thus, the Light Bag was born – a school bag that acts as a portable study unit with a solar panel and light attached. This Light Bag addressed the needs of the slum children by giving them an electricity-free study lamp and enabled SBT to reduce the number of drop-outs. It also gave SBT a unique PR opportunity to create greater awareness for their cause.