Why is this work relevant for Direct?

To make a real and impactful change, we needed to make sure prominent people heard our message loud and clear. People who have the power to save an entire forest, directly or indirectly. And the best way to deliver our message was to mail Tickets From Aarey, directly to their doorstep. The dead-leaf design was compelling and added an emotional angle to the conversation. It’s how we made sure our politicians, celebrities and other influential figures personally received the message against deforestation - by showing them the real cost of the proposed new metro line.

Background

Aarey Forest cleans Mumbai’s polluted air. It’s home to hundreds of species of birds, animals and insects. But on 4th Oct 2019, the Bombay High Court ordered the cutting down of a section of the Aarey forest, to free up land for the metro III car shed. Even though there are other options available. Despite public outcry, late at night, the felling of trees began. The Aarey Conservation Group Wanted to turn their protest Into a movement to force government to move metro III car shed to another location.

Describe the creative idea (30% of vote)

How do you show the true cost of cutting down an entire forest for a new metro line? By showing people what they’re paying for it. We did this by painstakingly carving out proposed new station names onto dead leaves from the Aarey forest. Each leaf was painstakingly etched with love and care. And were then individually mailed to influential figures and uploaded to social media as posts, to show people just how important Aarey forest is to the city.

Describe the strategy (20% of vote)

The decision to fell thousands of trees at Aarey had all the newspapers, news channels and social media platforms carrying the news. This generated a lot of buzz online. Yet while our target was everyone online, we also targeted influential people and policy makers, actually capable of making a change. We approached politicians and celebrities by directly mailing them our Tickets From Aarey. We then went online, and urged people to share our posts to their stories and timelines to help spread the word. Urging them to take action against cutting down of an entire forest with #SaveAareyForest.

Describe the execution (20% of vote)

We began our journey by collecting dead leaves from the Aarey forest. We then etched out station names on each leaf, carefully and skilfully. We attached these leaves to letters and mailed them to prominent personalities. We also uploaded them online for everyone to see. What’s more, we distributed these on ground as well, so others could share it with their friends and family too. We kicked off this effort to save the forest on 5th October 2019. By 30th November we saw a huge turnaround in public perception. People were talking about it on mainstream media, news and social media. We created and sent over 300+ direct mailers, over 1000+ distributions on-ground and over 70+ posts on Instagram and Twitter combined.

List the results (30% of vote)

Our Tickets From Aarey helped change perceptions by generating massive conversations both online and offline. With thousands of shares, the #SaveAareyForest trending on social media and massive anti-deforestation protests on-ground, the response from the public was overwhelming. The story was covered on mainstream media, news channels and social media - turning the tide in favour of the Aarey forest. 07th October, 2019, the supreme court of India issued a stay order on further clearance. The State Government followed suit and ordered relocation of the Metro III Car Shed. Declaring Aarey, a reserve forest. Environment minister awarded our campaign. While our tickets didn't cost anything they made people realize the price they would have had to pay.