Why is this work relevant for Brand Experience & Activation?

With Covid restrictions in place, a lot of expat Bengalis could not travel back to their hometowns for Durga Puja. Sunrise became the catalyst for these Bengalis to interact with the brand as well as enjoy the festivities. Sunrise Sadher Pujo, Swader Pujo (A festival near to my heart, A festival of Taste), activation was designed across digital media and on-ground platforms, aimed to engage with the Bengali community in the cities of Bengaluru and Delhi. This was done by rekindling the emotions of Durga puja by bringing the festivities of Kolkata’s Durga puja to these cities.

Background

Sunrise has been a leader in Spices in Eastern part of India. While the brand has very high mind measures, expat Bengalis living in Delhi and Bangalore would have to get the Spices couriered to their homes from West Bengal. The brand had reinvented its website to take direct orders, and ensured availability on leading ecommerce platforms outside Kolkata over the past year. The brand wanted to connect with expat Bengalis during Durga Puja in these 2 major cities and create an awareness regarding its availability of products pan India during this festival. The objective was to create a connect of these cities with Kolkata during Durga puja by integrating both digital as well as live on ground experience for the expat community living in these cities.

Describe the creative idea (20% of vote)

The idea was to bring closer the expat Bengali community to their hometown through a series of engagement who were going to miss their homecoming during the festival due Covid 19 travel restrictions. 1) The idea was to connect with Bengali Expat Communities and creating a buzz before Durga Puja through online sessions which consisted content created with influencers and experts who would help them to be Pujo ready, a Pre festival planning behavior associated with the community. 2) Rekindling the True Bengali emotion through activities involving titles and modules around Bengali culture during on-ground engagements. 3) Using of digital media and on-ground activation during Durga puja days to engage and communicate the brand message in the right environment to the target group of people (the Bengali community) in these cities. 4) Live streaming of a unique Kolkata Pujo and enabling interactions between Bengalis in Kolkata and Bangalore / Delhi

Describe the strategy (20% of vote)

Sunrise wanted to target Bengalis in the age group of 25-45 across all SEC. An activation centered around one of the biggest festival of Bengalis, spread across multiple cities of Delhi, Bangalore and Kolkata targeting the specific target group (the Bengali community) by bringing the essence of Kolkata’s Durga puja and its festivities to these cities. Use of the digital media on one hand was to engage and make them puja ready and on the other hand an on-ground activation was created on Puja days by tying up with multiple Bengali associations in these 2 cities to effectively communicate with the Bengali community to drive home the brand objective message of Khati bangaliana (True bengalines) during the festive environment. This would help the brand to connect emotively with the Bengali community in their biggest festival celebrated this year in a disruptive environment and strengthening the brand identity.

Describe the execution (30% of vote)

Pre-Puja activation captured the approaching festival atmosphere of excitement and planning. Through online sessions experts came together to create content on stories for children, shared Fashion tips to women and recipes relevant to the festival. On ground activation in Bengali dominated RWA and community associations drove the registrations for these online sessions. During Durga Pujo on-ground activation was executed in these cities tying up with 6 Bengali Associations where Live streaming of a Kolkata Durga Pujo was showcased conducted by 4 women priests for the first time in history. A LED Screen with a window façade at these activation zones named Bengal in my Heart streamed the content along with other traditional engagements at the activation zone. For expat Bengalis this experience of the festival without travelling to Kolkata brought joy and happiness. Both in the digital and on-ground engagement, the brand communication reflected its ready availability in these cities.

List the results (30% of vote)

The brand captured 75000+ eyeballs in the puja locations of Bengaluru and Delhi The campaign reached to 50000+ Bengalis living in these cities through community associations. The digital impression of the campaign was 0.15Million The daily orders on Sunrise website increase from 1-2 per day to 10+ per day The post campaign analysis showed Higher Mind measure amongst the TG The entire campaign was an effective way to reach the TG (Bengalis) without making huge amounts of investments in traditional media.

Please tell us about the cultural insight that inspired the work

Durga puja an 'Intangible Cultural Heritage' tagged by UNESCO is the biggest festivals for Bengalis. The festival is an opportunity for expat Bengalis to revisit their roots, and feel the true essence of being a “Bengali”. However, with Covid restrictions in place lot of expat Bengalis could not travel back to their hometowns this year and were left with no other option to celebrate their biggest festival in their town of present residence. Also, Sunrise spices, is a major link for Expat Bengalis with their homes via the consistency in its recipes which have stood the tide of time. However, its non-availability in cities outside eastern India, expat Bengalis had to get the Spices couriered to their homes from West Bengal. This cultural and behavioural insight of the TG inspired the brand to reach out the Expat Bengalis in cities of Delhi and Bangalore around the festival of Durga Puja