The Campaign

Every year, mosquito borne diseases reach a peak around the festival of Dussehra. It is a festival where effigies of the demon king Ravana are burnt. In 2016, Mortein, a mosquito repellent brand, had a unique solution- Ravana effigies made out of Mortein ActivCards. By just burning the ActivCard, mosquitoes are driven away. So not only did people celebrate Dussehra but also killed the real demons- mosquito-borne diseases.

Creative Execution

The campaign consisted of an activation, where huge Ravana ActivCard effigies were burnt across North India, a 3-day long street activity where limited edition Ravana packs were distributed from door-to-door and a school activity that reached to over 21,000 school children. Overall this campaign touched over 1,00,000 people on-ground and millions via social networking websites.

As per a study done by the Delhi Municipal Corporation, the reported cases of mosquito-borne disease dropped by 47%. People acknowledged how pro-actively a mosquito repellent brand took responsibility of the situation and gave a simple solution that brought instant results. The PR generated has prompted the company to take the idea on an even bigger scale in 2017, covering 10 major Indian cities.

#KillTheRealDemons changed the way people celebrate a national festival. People experienced Dussehra of a new kind. It brought a change in their behaviour and spread awareness among them in a very interesting manner.

The campaign reached out to all people across North India. It used a deeply entrenched festive ritual and gave it a twist that was seen as a positive by everyone.