URDU POEATRY

TitleURDU POEATRY
BrandKASHMIR COOKING OIL & BANASPATI
Product / ServiceKASHMIR COOKING OIL & BANASPATI
CategoryB03. Use of Ambient Media: Small Scale
EntrantBBDO PAKISTAN Lahore, PAKISTAN
Idea Creation BBDO PAKISTAN Lahore, PAKISTAN
Media Placement BBDO PAKISTAN Lahore, PAKISTAN
Production LIQUID FILMS Todmorden, UNITED KINGDOM
Production 2 PROVISION FILMS Lahore, PAKISTAN

Credits

Name Company Position
Ali Rez Impact BBDO Regional Creative Director
Assam Khalid BBDO Pakistan Creative Director
Assam Khalid BBDO Pakistan Strategic Planning Director
Saks Afridi Saks Afridi Artist
Faisal Durrani BBDO Pakistan Managing Director
Hira Mohibullah BBDO Pakistan Creative Director
Aamna Rahim BBDO Pakistan Senior Creative Manager
Haroon Rashid BBDO Pakistan Senior Art Director
Haseeb Akram BBDO Pakistan Art Director
Moiz Khan BBDO Pakistan Digital Creative Group Head
Idrees Hussain BBDO Pakistan Client Servicing
Jamayal Tanweer BBDO Pakistan Digital Buisness Director
Gulandam Shireen BBDO Pakistan Account Manager
Alize Munir BBDO Pakistan Community Manager
Mian Aleem Ali BBDO Pakistan Production Designer
Sarmad Ghafoor Sarmad Ghafoor Musician
Natasha Ijaz AUDIO DNA Music Director
Atif Pasha BBDO Pakistan Production Manager
Shahid Shahid Chef
Abid Abid Calligrapher
Assam Khalid BBDO Pakistan Strategy Planning Director
Vinod Kamble Vinod Kamble Chef
Ali Rez Impact BBDO Creative Director
Atif Pasha BBDO Pakistan Production Manager

The Campaign

Phonetically the language of Urdu is regarded as "sweet" sounding. A mix of Persian, Arabic and Hindi give it a dulcet, melodic and honeyed tone - for centuries, poetry in the Asian subcontinent has been written in Urdu for this very reason. Even the script form of Urdu is Arabic and Persian based, using beautiful, flowy calligraphic styles. Our idea was to revive the beauty of Urdu by making it wanted again through something that’s just as old and sweet as the language but is still considered cool: Jalebi. Jalebi is a popular 10th century South Asian dessert made of dough and sugar, and fried in banaspati vegetable oils. The sugary treat is made by hand-drawing spirals in heated oil. It was the perfect opportunity to merge it with Urdu calligraphy.

Creative Execution

Collaborating with two artists, a calligrapher and a chef, the campaign was launched using the words of a 13th century Urdu poet, Amir Khusro, considered the father of Urdu verse; whose poetry was brought back to life in the form of this dessert. The craft was meticulous. All of Urdu script is not written in joint letters, whereas jalebi can only be formed when it is connected as one unit. We therefore had to create a unique lettering design and practice how to calligraph it in jalebi. We gave it a fitting hashtag: #UrduPoeatry. For PR, we picked high impact venues: The Karachi literary festival held in London and local book stores in Pakistan. Every word of the poem written in jalebi was served with the complete couplet and its english translation. A film was released online on Pakistan’s 70th independence day, along with a billboard of the artwork.

Results

The press caught on and the results were as sweet as jalebi. For the first time, the brand was featured in the local news. 5 million+ reached and over 1 million views in 24 hours. The live activations were immensely popular, with thousands of people turning up to try the jalebi poetry. The project has now developed further to be taught Urdu poetry within secondary schools accompanied with the first proper Urdu alphabet song, the first of its kind for the language. A 13th century poet, a 10th century dessert, 2 artists, a modern calligrapher and a devoted brand all came together to revive the sweetness of a national language.

As a food brand, we came up with a campaign idea that not only connected directly with the consumer experientially, but also did it in a highly original manner which was relevant to the brand. Our task to revive a national language, while generating direct trial of our product, resulting in earned media, was achieved with much success.

In a market dominated with what we call "song-and-dance" films, all of which look alike, Kashmir Cooking Oils decided to pursue a completely different strategy: a more mature, heritage-based approach with a nationalistic appeal. It was a bold stance for a Pakistani food company to take. As a brand connect, jalebi was the perfect ingredient since it is traditionally fried in banaspati. The target audience was Pakistanis of all ages who knew that interest was dying in their national language.

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