The Campaign

An interesting fact about Indian festivals is that behind the revelry and good food, it provides an unexpected environment for learning. Festivals are occasions that mums leverage to teach their children important lessons in culture, traditions and values that define Indian heritage One such festival is Ganesh Chaturthi – the festival of the elephant-headed child-god. He is known for being wise and holds dear the values that Surf mum would like to see in her child – sacrifice, empathy and righteousness Ganesha idol is brought home, decorated and worshipped. At the end of festivity, idol is bid goodbye by immersing it in a water body. However, as production of idols grew on commercial basis, natural clay was replaced by Plaster of Paris and synthetic colours which are man-made and does not dissolve in water. Therefore contaminates water and has adverse effects on the environment – a rising concern amongst environmental bodies, government

Creative Execution

Surf partnered with Lokmat group to create a movement towards the cause. To achieve this, Surf hosted a workshop where children were invited and taught to make eco-friendly clay Ganesh idols, which are 100% degradable. Nearly 75,000 Kids participated in the workshop and about 3,750 Eco-friendly Ganapati idols were created to perfection. The idols, were then exhibited to the general public and sold. The proceeds were donated to “India Foundation”, NGO devoted to environmental consciousness. Children made eco-friendly idols and learnt about environmental protection, bringing alive the brand proposition. For scale, activity was covered with editorial write-ups and released across 2-3 top publications reaching 17.2 MN people. Print was used extensively. On each day of Pre -festival, half page articles were released. They spoke about the importance of the festival and the need to be eco-friendly. The journey of kids who were part of the workshop was written as well.

Describe the success of the promotion with both client and consumer including some quantifiable results

Over 17.2 million people were reached through this process. Inspiring kids ‘the catalyst of change’: Nearly 75,000 Kids participated in the workshop and about 3,750 Eco-friendly Ganapati idols were exhibited and sold. Parents / Teachers testified to the success of this initiative. They were happy to see a brand taking efforts to educate young minds about the environment and offered solutions on how to preserve it. ? Unaided Brand Awareness went up by 600 basis points ? Brand recommendation went up by 200 basis points ? ‘Believe that children develop best when they're free to get dirty’ improved by 200 basis points ? Brand talk ability increased by 200 basis points (Source:*Millward Brown Sept ‘15 Maharashtra Data) Brand was able to contribute in its small way in creating environmental consciousness by getting 3750 homes to replace POP idols with Eco friendly idols.

Explain why the method of promotion was most relevant to the product or service

Festivals in India are celebrated with great fervour. Sometimes in midst of all the celebrations, we forget that unintentionally we are harming the environment. Surf Excel took up this cause of highlighting to consumers the effects of one such festival Ganesh Chaturthi. While bringing to light the environmental hazards, it involved the parents and children alike in the conversation. It ensured that the Gen Z clearly understood the cause & stood for it. Not just that it also acted as an influencer to the parents. The activity generated conversation around environmental hazards while providing an alternate solution.

Finding a contexts in media for talking to a mum when the child gets ‘dirty’ and learns is very difficult. The context is extremely personal and devoid of media presence. Schools don’t permit brands to enter their premises and the mum and child learning time is largely confined to homes. Surf Excel saw an opportunity of helping a child learn important lessons in environmental responsibility involving both mum and child. At a workshop organized by Surf Excel, kids created Ganpati idols from environment-friendly materials like clay and vegetable colours while their mothers watched them getting dirty while doing so – reinforcing her belief in learning by doing and bringing Dirt is Good alive for her in the process.