Preventing elephantiasis: Campaign aims to motivate 460 million in India

Client: Sabin Vaccine Institute/Global Network for Neglected Tropical Diseases

Agency: Ogilvy & Mather, Mumbai

Market: India

Scope: Brand identity, television, cinema, radio, print, mobile and online content

Press release quotes:

Richard Hatzfeld, communications director for the Sabin Vaccine Institute and Global Network:

The Government of India has a strong history of implementing health programs at a massive scale and is within reach of achieving elimination of lymphatic filariasis, but the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare faces a significant hurdle in encouraging people to participate in mass drug administrations. Drawing on our experience running END7, a global public advocacy campaign focused on eliminating seven Neglected Tropical Diseases (NTDs), including lymphatic filariasis, we were honoured to assist the MOHFW with developing a campaign to promote awareness and prevention of this devastating disease. Our creative partners—Ogilvy & Mather India and Little Lamb Films—overcame some truly daunting challenges to get the job done right and in record time.

Sumanto Chattopadhyay, executive creative director of Ogilvy India:

We were immediately drawn to the idea that eliminating filaria in India can be the country’s next big public health success story. The theme of working together to wipe away this terrible disease became an early cornerstone of our creative direction and from there we built other important elements into our concepts, including intrigue and an uplifting, simple message that would stick with our target audience.

Bauddhayan Mukherji, founder and director of Little Lamb Films:

Given the diversity of our target audience, we wanted to make sure there were a variety of cues throughout the videos that were distinctly Indian, but not necessarily representative of any one state or region. In keeping with the positive message reinforcing the simplicity of the solution, we also thought it was important that the man stricken with filaria in the videos serve as a champion for treatment and action, rather than a helpless victim.

Campaign Asia-Pacific’s comments: “Hathipaon Mukt Bharat” (Fliaria Free India) is a solid cause. It’s impressive the entire campaign was executed on a one month schedule during Diwali, one of India’s most important holidays. The video captures, in a cinematic way, both the naivety and curiosity of people regarding Filaria. Despite the complexity of the subject matter, the message is both clear and positive. 

CREDITS

Creative: Sumanto Chhatopadhyay, Abhijit Karandikar, Jyotsna Parikh, Nilay Moonje, Meghna Hiran, Mayuresh Natalkar, Dharini Pradhan and Shubhojit Chattopadhyay
Planning: Khushnuma Daruwala, Bhakti Mallik
Account Management: Prakash Nair, Aroon Ramchandran, Heena Mordani & Jennifer Desai
Production company: Little Lamb Films
Director: Bauddhayan Mukherji
Producer: Shraddha Singhvi