LIFEBUOY GERM NASHINI

Silver Spike

Case Film

Presentation Image

TitleLIFEBUOY GERM NASHINI
BrandUNILEVER
Product / ServiceLIFEBUOY
CategoryB06. Use of Events
EntrantMULLENLOWE LINTAS GROUP INDIA Mumbai, INDIA
Idea Creation MULLENLOWE LINTAS GROUP INDIA Mumbai, INDIA
Idea Creation 2 MULLENLOWE SINGAPORE, SINGAPORE
Media Placement MULLENLOWE LINTAS GROUP INDIA Mumbai, INDIA

Credits

Name Company Position
Nitin Sawant MullenLowe Lintas Group India Group Creative Director
Satendra Mhatre MullenLowe Lintas Group India Associate Creative Director
Sarvesh Raikar MullenLowe Lintas Group India Executive Director
Sagar Kapoor MullenLowe Lintas Group India Chief Creative Officer
Amer Jaleel MullenLowe Lintas Group India Group Chairman & Chief Creative Officer
Prathamesh Kulkarni MullenLowe Lintas Group India Brand Services Director
Dharal Goshalia MullenLowe Lintas Group India Associate Vice President
Vinay Vinayak MullenLowe Singapore Global Business Director
Diya Sarkar MullenLowe Lintas Group India Brand Services Manager
Girish U MullenLowe Lintas Group India Associate Creative Director
Joybrato Dutta MullenLowe Lintas Group India Unit Creative Director
Savita Iyer MullenLowe Lintas Group India Associate Vice President
Samir Singh Unilever Global Executive Vice President, Skin Cleansing
Kartik Chandrasekhar Unilever Global Brand Vice President, Lifebuoy
Madhurjya Banerjee Unilever Global Brand Director, Lifebuoy
Guntas Randhawa Unilever Global Brand Director, Lifebuoy

Why is this work relevant for Media?

India, land of many festivals that are celebrated with fervor and euphoria. Durga Puja is a festival that celebrates the homecoming of goddess Durga. Sacred food (bhog) is at the heart of the festivities and is usually consumed with unclean hands. Lifebuoy identified a powerful opportunity to intervene during Durga Puja to ensure devotees had cleans hands before eating bhog and were educated on the importance of hand hygiene to prevent infections. A Germ Nashini (destroyer) was created and strategically placed at the heart of the festival celebrations across three cities. The message truly became the medium and vice versa.

Background

Lifebuoy, the world’s largest hygiene soap been protecting people from infection causing germs and saving lives for over a century. The brand has been driving crucial education around handwashing as a life-saving habit through extensive on ground programs across the developing world. Despite this there is still widespread lack of awareness around hand hygiene and its role in preventing infections, especially in countries like India. How do you keep reminding people on a topic that’s boring and mundane for the average person? Food is an indispensable part of Indian festivals but is often consumed with unclean hands, exposing devotees to germs and illnesses. Lifebuoy explored the opportunity of using religious gatherings to drive education on the importance of handwashing, with two objectives: 1. Use Durga Puja, one of India’s largest festival as a platform to drive hand hygiene awareness 2. Make the message highly contextual to ensure receptivity and memorability

Describe the creative idea/insights (30% of vote)

During the 10 day long Durga Puja festival, devotees come to worship the goddess and enjoy warm bhog (blessed food). How do we ensure millions of devotees attending Durga Puja clean their hands before eating bhog? Given the depth of devotion to goddess Durga, we realized that people would never ignore a message from the goddess herself. The strategy was to use the ‘blessing hand gesture’ of the goddess to symbolize the destruction of germs. Lifebuoy created the Germ Nashini (Destroyer). Designed in the form of the ‘goddess’s blessing gesture’, Germ Nashini used an apt metaphor of the goddess Durga who is the Destroyer of Evil. Devotees thronged to the Germ Nashini to place their hands in front of the goddess’s hand. The Germ Nashini sensed hands and dispensed hand sanitizer, leaving a blessing of germ protection.

Describe the strategy (20% of vote)

There were 3 audiences that Lifebuoy wanted to attract through this installation: Devotees: The Germ Nashini was placed where the bhog was served ensuring the throng of devotees were directly targeted and no one ate bhog without cleaning their hands. A video was released on Dussehra, the most auspicious day of the festival. The hashtag #GermNashini soon gained momentum during the period of the festival. Media channels: Indian festivals gain a lot of attention from media outlets who cover events on key days. Germ Nashini as a result of its unique form and design stood out of the clutter of brands, catching media attention. Durga Puja organizers: Through this activation the aim was to catch the eye of Durga Puja organizers, who would appreciate the importance and commit to providing Germ Nashini every year to the devotees as a means to protect them from germs.

Describe the execution (20% of vote)

The activation was done in 3 big cities where the festival is celebrated by large numbers – Mumbai, Kolkata and Guwahati. Lifebuoy targeted 3 big pandals in each of these cities where large footfalls were ensured, a Germ Nashini was placed in each pandal at a strategic location just before the bhog distribution area. A video was released on 18th October 2018 on Youtube, Instagram and Twitter and was covered by multiple digital websites. Kajol, famous Indian celebrity and a follower of goddess Durga shared the activation video and message through her Twitter account. Indian festivals are covered extensively by local media like newspapers and Lifebuoy’s Germ Nashini attracted the attention of multiple regional and national dailies.

List the results (30% of vote)

1. Reached over 2.3 million devotees with our message during the festival. 2. Covered by over 15 news channels & media publications. 3. Most of all caught the eye of Durga Puja event organizers who are keen to install the Germ Nashini next year in their own pandals