MUMBAI: She’s got exposed to leading a channel, building a cult motorcycle brand, and she’s even turned entrepreneur before returning to the advertising world. The lady in question is Tanisha Sharma who has just moved to the Havas Creative Network as executive vice-president from FCB India where she was senior vice-president for nearly three years.
A bachelor of arts degree in history followed by a post graduate diploma in marketing and advertising from Xavier Institute of Communication got Tanisha her first ob at Rediffusion Y&R in 2005 as a senior account executive. From there, she moved to JWT into account management where she stayed for almost a couple of years. And then came a surprising and unexpected leap into the world of television with her being appointed a manager of MTV where she crafted out strategies for the youth-oriented service for two and a half years.
With that experience behind her she was drafted as senior brand manager for Royal Enfield – a stint she kept for two years and some months after which she founded a card company which created bespoke invitations and stationery. That did not last for longer than two years and six months following which it was back to advertising with her joining Dentsu Impact as general manager in 2019. A gradual progression upwards saw her becoming associate vice-president – a position which she left to join FCB India. And now she is at Havas Creative.
Mumbai: Havas Worldwide India on Wednesday announced the appointment of Anupama Ramaswamy as its chief creative officer. She comes on board to further catapult the creative transformation of the agency, which has seen unparalleled business growth over the last three years. Anupama’s last stint was with Dentsu Impact, where she was working as the managing partner and national creative director.
Ravinder Siwach, who has been leading the creative mandate of Havas Worldwide India as executive director and national creative director, is moving on to pursue new opportunities. He will be with the agency till October 2022.
Ramaswamy will be reporting to Havas Group India chairman and chief creative officer Bobby Pawar, and will begin her new role at the agency effective October 2022. She will also work closely with Havas Worldwide India managing director Manas Lahiri.
Ramaswamy will be based out of the agency’s Gurgaon office, overlooking the complete client roster of both Gurgaon and Mumbai offices that have witnessed tremendous business growth over the last three years. This includes some of the biggest global and Indian brands, including Reckitt, Dabur, Tata Group, P&G, Stellantis, Vivo, Aegon Life, Fortis, Suzuki, UTI Mutual Fund, Celio, William Grant, amongst others. In 2021 alone, Havas Worldwide India garnered over 30 per cent growth across its Mumbai and Gurgaon offices on the back of significant business wins, resulting in it being consistently ranked in the top three in the R3 New Business League Creative Agency list.
Through her career, Ramaswamy has worked with some of the leading agencies in India and several marquee global and indigenous brands across sectors, including Maruti Suzuki, Ikea, Vivo, Paytm, Subway, Tata Tea Digital, Samsung Mobiles, Airtel, Dabur, Lacoste, Whirlpool and many more. Her recent campaigns, which include the Paytm Divide and Chotu, made her win the One Show, a couple of Spikes, New York Festivals and also featured as one of the Impact Creative Stars ’21.
During her stint at JWT Delhi as senior creative director, Ramaswamy led the Delhi office to its first Cannes Lions and Clio Gold. She has also been a recipient of some of the most coveted awards, including Cannes Lions, Clio, Adfest, New York Festivals, Abbys, Effies, Spikes, Global Healthcare Awards, IAA Awards, and The One Show, and her work for FujiFilm has been featured in the prestigious Gunn Report as one of the top 20 most awarded print campaigns in the world. She has been on the jury of several prestigious awards, like The One Show, and the grand jury at AME Awards and New York Festivals.
“We have steadily been building Havas Worldwide into a company that embodies Yannick Bollore’s ‘Together’ philosophy. Where skill sets from the old world and new work seamlessly and harmoniously. This and the rising standard of our work have made us the fastest growing agency. Now is the time for our work to take a giant leap. And I can’t think of a better person to lead this than Anupama. She is a hugely talented creative with a heap of awards and great work to prove it. But the one talent of hers that I value the most is her ability to nurture a culture that makes people and their ideas better. She is a team player and fits right into our philosophy. And I believe she will be a leader who will usher not just Havas but also our industry into the future,” said Bobby Pawar.
Talking about her new role, Ramaswamy said, “The complete resurgence of Havas Group India has made it one of the most sought-after networks. The group has been working in an integrated manner long before other agencies had even thought about it. So, the opportunity to work with Bobby again, who is an institution in his own right, along with Rana’s overall vision for the network, drew me in to be part of this unprecedented growth story. But what excites me the most is the task bestowed upon me by Bobby and Rana-to induce a new and fresh creative culture.”
Speaking about Ravinder’s exit, Bobby said, “Ravinder has played a key role in the resurgence of Havas Worldwide. However, he has been chomping at the bit to do other things, many beyond advertising, for a while. Which means his journey with us is over while another one begins. We all wish him the best in his new adventures.”
Ravinder Siwach said, “The reputation that Havas Worldwide India has built over the last three years is truly inspirational. Being part of this growth journey was an enriching experience. I thank Rana, Bobby and the entire team at Havas Worldwide India for their tremendous support and wish them luck for the journey ahead.”
Mumbai: DS Spiceco, a part of the DS Group has launched a new campaign for Catch Sprinklers, its flagship product. Designed by Dentsu Creative Impact, the ad film revolves around the similarities in identical twins, who have exactly the same genetic makeup and look and behave similarly, including how they dress up and what they eat and enjoy. However, when it comes to food and seasoning their palates are different with distinctive tastes that are satiated by Catch, which has a match for every taste.
The film opens on two young identical twin boys coming out of the dressing room, wearing the exact same clothes and accessories to look identical. Even the shirts are tucked in the same style. They both admire their reflections in the mirror, flick their hair to the same side and high-five each other without looking. Later the twins are playing football and they both fall down at the same time and seem to have the exact same bruises on their face. This is followed by twins watching a horror movie with both having identical reactions to the movie scenes. Later, the twins are seen sitting across the dining table with a plate of food in their hands and reaching out for the Catch Sprinklers. There’s a moment of pause as both hands appear to go for the same sprinkler, however as the camera zooms out, one twin picks up the Chat Masala Sprinkler and the other the Black Salt one. They both raise their eyebrows at each other, as if questioning the other person’s choice. But then they break into a smile and continue to sprinkle the respective taste enhancers on their plate.
The voice over in the films says “Aap kitne bhi same kyun na ho, taste to same kabhi nahin hota. Isliye Catch ke paas hai sabke taste ka match. 100 per cent.” You may be the same in all aspects but your taste will always differ. Catch has a match for every taste per cent.
Commenting on the campaign, DS Spiceco business head Sandeep Ghosh said, “The flagship product of Catch, the sprinklers have enjoyed leadership in the category since its launch in the year 1987. The new commercial will further consolidate Catch’s leadership position in the table top category, which has expanded over the years and has a variety of salts, pepper & blends today. A taste enhancer for every palate indeed.”
Speaking about the thought behind the campaign, Dentsu Impact managing partner & national creative director Anupama Ramaswamy said, “Who uses sprinklers? Someone who wants something extra in existing food. Now that’s simple. From here came the insight of how people may be similar but when it comes to the food and taste, people may be different. And how can we show this behaviour using a visual mnemonic which is memorable?”
“So there came the creative device of twins. We all know twins are the same in most aspects. Except when it comes to taste. Of course, shooting with identical looking kids was challenging particularly when it comes to the exact reactions, but I must say, it was a commendable job done by the director Gaurav and the entire team at Good Morning Films,” she added.
Dentsu Impact EVP Hindol Purkayastha said, “I can already see this campaign winning hearts among the TG. It is going to break the clutter and I am quite confident that this will create a new mark in the sprinklers’ category. May be a new trend of ‘how to beautifully use twins in communications.’’
Mumbai: Ozone, in partnership with Dentsu Impact has launched its latest campaign called ‘Hum Sab Sambhal Lenge.’ While most German kitchen hardware brands want us to dream of kitchens like five-star lobbies, through this campaign, Ozone takes a more pragmatic and honest look at what a real Indian kitchen is.
Conceptualised and executed by Dentsu Impact, a dentsuMB Company and the creative agency from the house of dentsu Creative India, the series of five quirky and honest films are individual stories of people in the kitchen in a microformat. They remind us of how our kitchens are a different ball game altogether from the dreamy advertisements we are fed.
The films beautifully capture these slices of life, emphasising that the brand understands the consumer efficiently. They showcase kitchens witnessing pots and pans flying in moments of passion and where the in-house brat pulls out the drawer to play the harmonium. With this, the brand underlines the stringent testing that the products undergo, which gives it the confidence to promise that no matter what happens ‘Hum Sab Sambhaal Lenge.’
“Our products are designed for long-lasting use. They are durable, and elegant and are tested stringently to work in demanding kitchens. Much like the conditions the films capture,” commented Ozone Overseas president Abhishek Aggarwal. “We usher in world-class quality and support to a market that today is ready and is discerning. We want them to know that we understand them like no other.”
“The expression ‘Hum Sab Sambhal Lenge’ gives confidence to the TG that no matter what kind of pressure they put on the kitchen hardware, Ozone will handle all of it since it understands Indian kitchen and usage,” said Dentsu Impact executive VP Ujjwal Anand, adding that, “In a market that is driven by a retailer’s recommendation and push, ‘Hum Sab Sambhaal Lenge’ is equivalent to ‘Arre sir! Main baitha hoon yahan’ ‘Main keh raha hoon na sir’ ‘Aankh band kar ke le jao’. The articulation gives the assurance to the consumers of the quality and at the same time helps retailers with a whole new pitch.”
“Unlike German kitchens, a plank most of the leading players use, the Indian kitchen with large extended families is accessed by everyone – kids, grandparents, maids and cooks. From Chintu the brat to Pinki the angry teen. Also, everyone has their own style of operating the kitchen, which entails quite a bit of careless and rough usage. In many families, kitchens never stop functioning,” remarked Dentsu Impact executive creative director Mayank Khattar. “Imagine then the load on it; and to depict that, we carefully picked up a family setting with each of its members accessing the kitchen in their signature way and for their own needs. The films are all about these people subjecting the kitchen to any treatment they deem fit.”
Mumbai: With the election season upon us, Ozone, a homegrown Indian brand in the digital ‘locks and safes’ segment has launched the ‘Ab Chalegi Finger Key’ campaign. The campaign metaphorically demonstrates the connection between Ozone’s digital lock and electronic voting wherein one can open a lock using one finger and simultaneously vote for a better future.
Conceptualised and executed by Dentsu Impact, a dentsuMB Company & the creative agency from dentsu India, the 360-degree campaign will be promoted across print, radio, digital and OOH. Furthermore, the brand has launched an IP (Intellectual Property) in association with news channels – NDTV and ABP. The multi-episode program on the news channels nudges the voters to make the right choice for themselves and the society at large. It also includes an exclusive anthem to help attract mass appeal and celebrity endorsements along with on-ground interviews with audiences and debates.
“Through this campaign, we aim to sensitise people that by exercising the power of their finger they can choose the right government for better security and progress just like with a swipe of their fingers they can secure their valuables,” said Ozone Overseas president Abhishek Aggarwal. “We are consistently working towards enhancing the customer experience by altering the traditional usage of keys with our digital key that effortlessly eliminates the breach of security system, allowing the consumer more control and efficiency,” he further added.
The campaign follows closely in the wake of the brand’s ‘Guccha Singh Campaign,’ urging people to move from a ‘Chabiyoun Ka Guccha’ (bunch of keys) to the new age digital locks with multiple access mode that gives ‘unmatched security with utmost ease.’
“Elections give that one chance to the voters to exercise their rights for a safe, secure and brighter future. By using the power of the voting finger, they can make changes that really matter,” remarked Dentsu Impact executive vice president Ujjwal Anand. “‘Is baar kiski chalegi,’ ‘is baar kaun ayega,’ ‘satta kisko milegi’ are all turn of phrases that we get to hear particularly around the election frenzy. We decided to give a spin to these phrases and hinge our campaign articulation around the verbiage.”
“While in the earlier campaign the mascot we created was around a popular face and larger than life ‘Chabiyoun Ka Guccha’, this campaign takes the engagement to a different space, by tapping into the culture of elections and voting in India; the finger as a voting tool, readily recognisable, took the centre stage,” said Dentsu Impact executive creative director Mayank Khattar. “We used the finger as a symbol of power in people’s hands. The overall tonality of the campaign has been thought-provoking, urging people of states where the elections are being conducted, to acknowledge and exercise their voting rights and choose a better, progressive future. Just like our digital locks that take the security of our homes and valuables to a different level that too with five access modes, giving the control in people’s hands. The instant connection of the people with the empowering index finger is striking.”
Mumbai: Digital payments and financial services platform Paytm has released a coming-of-age ad film “Dil Ke Account Se Paytm Karo” on first date, showcasing the brand as the preferred mode of payment transcending all ages. Released ahead of Valentine’s Day, the marketing campaign promotes the brand’s ‘convenience of payments,’ giving users an option to pay using Paytm QR code, UPI and more.
The ad film shows two teenagers going out on their first date and eventually finding love. It is designed by dentsu Impact and produced by Crazy Few Films, while the song has been sung by singer Jasleen Royal.
“We wanted to connect with our young audience in an emotional manner and this story came out of a simple insight – across the nation, people who live in close knit neighborhoods are more like family to each other,” said Paytm vice president – marketing Abhinav Kumar. “As they celebrate love together, Paytm is a part of their everyday lives, helping them help each other.”
According to One97 Communications – the company that owns Paytm, the ‘Dil Ke Account Se Paytm Karo’ campaign is more than just a story of two lovebirds. “The campaign is also a story that captures the relevance and youthfulness of Paytm as a brand,” it said.
Mumbai: dentsuMB (formerly Dentsu India) planning and strategy head Vishal Nicholas will now also lead strategy for Dentsu Impact, a dentsuMB company. Under this expanded mandate, Nicholas will manage planning & strategy – South, Mumbai, and Delhi for both the agencies. He will continue to report to dentsuMB Group CEO Sidharth Rao.
Armed with 16 years of experience, Nicholas has had stints at Lowe Lintas and McCann where he worked on Flipkart, Tata Tea’s JaagoRe platform, Myntra, TVS Motors, ITC Aashirvaad, and Britannia. He is a multiple EFFIE award winner across the India and APAC regions, said the agency on Monday.
Speaking on the elevation, Sidharth Rao said, “As we continue to strengthen and reshape our creative offering in the Indian market, we needed a planning leader who has experience with both traditional and new-age businesses; and Vishal was the obvious choice to steer the strategy product for both dentsuMB and Dentsu Impact.”
Vishal Nicholas added, “Ever since I joined dentsu, I’ve always been excited about the Eastern approach to building brands with simplicity and second-order thinking at its core. With dentsuMB, the combination of the East and West make it even more compelling. And with Dentsu Impact’s fantastic roster of clients, I look forward to achieving greater business outcomes for them.”
For the record, Dentsu Impact and dentsuMB are part of the dentsuMB Group in India that also houses the agencies Dentsu Webchutney, Dentsu One, and Taproot Dentsu.
Mumbai: According to a 2019 EY report, the Indian e-pharma sector was poised to touch $2.7 billion by 2023 from $360 million. The report cited an increase in internet penetration and smartphone ownership, along with the ease of ordering medications through an e-commerce platform and an increase in chronic diseases as some of the key growth drivers for the online pharma industry.
And this was before the Covid-19 put a gigantic spoke in the wheel of our outdoor activities. And, before it became hara-kiri to step out of one’s house for as mundane a task as purchasing some prescription pills.
The Covid Tsunami Effect
One year plus of the tidal onslaught of the Covid tsunami has brought about irrevocable changes into the world. The exponential and fast-tracked tilt towards everything digital was one of them and it was obvious that online pharmacies and healthcare would not be far behind.
“With limited reach and usage till a year ago, the pandemic has changed the landscape drastically. Lockdowns, restricted movement, and policy initiatives have enabled higher adoption, penetration, and substantial growth,” says digital marketing agency Natter COO Avinash Joshi as he opines on the growth in India’s e-pharma space.
High caseloads, especially in urban areas coupled with regional lockdowns have compelled consumers to take the online route rather than visit the friendly neighbourhood pharmacies. It’s no longer simply a matter of convenience but about undertaking any added risk by venturing out unnecessarily.
Driven by the second wave of the Covid-19 pandemic, India’s e-pharmacy sector is once again witnessing a surge in orders. There has also been a spike in sales of Covid-related products – such as pulse oximeters, personal protective equipment (PPE) kits, oxygen cans, masks, sanitizers, health supplements across major online pharma players, in addition to regular drugs.
Overall Growth in the e-Sector
According to dentsu Impact president Amit Wadhwa, the e-pharma sector in India is still in its nascent stage and while it has been growing rapidly in the last 4-5 years in India, a big surge in that growth happened only over the last one year. “This is not just visible in the industry growth numbers and how we are seeing consumers using/ talking about the platform, but also with the number of new players that we are constantly seeing entering this segment, with even traditional chemists such as Apollo Pharmacy along with big names such as Amazon diving right in,” says Wadhwa.
As per estimates, 35 per cent of the domestic pharmaceutical market relates to chronic medications and the remainder to acute medicines. E-pharmacies have been targeting the chronic market majorly so far and are expected to scale up the acute medicine market through an improvement in last-mile logistics and collaboration with local pharmacies.
“In the years to come, people will look at 2020 as ‘the year that changed everything- especially the way we reach out to our end consumers’,” says Hybrid healthcare start up Healthnovo co-founder Rima Sunit. “We see an increasing trend of teleconsultation, online ordering of medicines, etc. Even doctors are now adapting to new methods of providing prescriptions by using digital tools and consulting their patients over a video call. Currently, the Indian market is flooded by online players offering the best services at discounted prices.”
According to industry trackers, the sector’s growth is on top of an already robust revenue increase of around 35 per cent last year. The second wave and the consequent uptick in orders are setting the industry up for yet another year of strong growth in the range of 30-50 per cent. An almost 3X expansion in the number of users ordering medicines online means the sector is bound to see strong revenue growth this year as well.
Major players & their marketing game
Some of the leading players in this race to tap into the burgeoning e-pharma sector are 1mg, Netmeds, Pharmeasy, and Medlife with many new entrants emerging on the scene. In the last few months, brands like PharmEasy have been wooing the customer with a deluge of commercials, amplifying their message of ‘Aapki Health Aapke Haath Mein hai’ (your health is in your hands), with a dash of humour and relatability to the common man.
Netmeds roped in celebrity brand ambassador, Kareena Kapoor to convey the reliability and safety of their service, coupled with the ease and convenience of access for the customer.
According to Wadhwa, the brands are focusing their messaging on discounts and ease of delivery as ‘this is a phase where the category is creating awareness and the intent is to gain from the physical chemists’. He adds, “As the category gains more acceptance, we will see a more defined and differentiated messaging/ tonality across at least the key brands where possibly more planks such as trust, presence, etc. might be explored.”
Reaping the benefits of increased demand, online pharmacies and digital health companies have been passing on some of the paybacks to consumers by offering generous discounts on online purchases. This helped drive up the sales initially, while brands were trying to make a dent in the hitherto traditional Indian pharma market. In the long run, however, discounts may have to come down to reasonable levels to achieve breakeven and any meaningful profitability.
“With several local & global players in the fray, a lot of money is being spent to own and retain that exclusive audience. These brands are spending big on ATL and driving performance on digital with retargeting, scaling up downloads, offering discounts & referrals. These digital-first brands make use of chat-bots for queries & resolutions, AI & ML for recommendations, and tracking tools & digital payments for fulfilment. They are also spending big on content creation to engage with the user on the right platform,” says Natter COO Avinash Joshi.
Despite challenges like trust deficit, customer support issues, and remote area access, if the spurt in the e- pharma industry continues, it can aid in the regulation of the Indian pharma space. As e-pharma companies insist on verifying the prescription online before dispensing medicine they are likely to be more structured than their traditional counterparts.
New Delhi: 2020 has been an extremely challenging year for the advertising industry — in the wake of the pandemic, marketing budgets were slashed, teams had to adapt to new ways of working from home in no time and deliver to clients, and business priorities and plans had to be redefined because no planner and strategists could foresee the Covid impact on businesses.
Despite all the odds, industry professionals have relentlessly worked hard and come up with great campaigns that have been able to move the masses and change brand perceptions.
Indiantelevision.com’s Devesh Gupta spoke to dentsu Impact president Amit Wadhwa on what he thinks about 2020, how advertising industry has adapted to new norms, client expectations during this time, how pandemic has impacted creativity and what is the way forward.
Excerpts:
On year 2020 for advertising agencies.
It has been a year that no one ever imagined and for not the best of reasons. It’s been a year where a lot of things were tried and tested not because people wanted to but because they had no options. Ironically, a lot of our presentations had ‘Vision 2020’ but it soon turned into ‘Mission 2020’. It’s been a tough year but good in a sense that it pushed people to think, try and do new things.
On seeking positivity.
Nothing we had planned happened the way we had planned. So the question was, if you have to sail through in the best possible way, how would you do that and in the bargain see what all you need as an individual to get better, learn new things and get the organisation moving. There was some fire-fighting and a bit of self-reflection.
dentsu Impact was already moving into the digital space and that helped us as we hastened the process far more quickly and almost 95 per cent workforce is digitally savvy. We now handle the digital mandate of all our businesses, and that actually helped us sail through this year.
On the new normal for agency businesses,
There is nothing normal, everyday is different.
From a business point of view, managing the numbers itself and the innovative ways we are deploying to do that. We are not sitting in but are aggressively going after the businesses. We are looking at growing the business in a different vertical. For instance, we were handling creative and media, then decided to also take care of digital creative and media and use this opportunity to strengthen and grow.
On the people front, work from home seems like bliss but it is tough. Working hours have crept into late nights and weekends. We are trying to do whatever we can at our end to ensure people are taken care of in whatever way we can — that’s another big challenge faced by organisations.
On pandemic changing the creative business.
There are two sides to it. We are running our business very creatively as we never thought we would operate with everyone sitting at home. And even with such challenges, we put a strong performance. We found creative ways of tackling things.
Initially, it was a bit of a daze, that what has hit us, and the idea was to survive and stay afloat. Slowly, people got into a rhythm, started figuring things out, and realised that it is creativity that will keep us going. One good idea from the team brings happiness for the group (even more than what we used to feel in the pre-Covid days). These times have propelled us to push more for it.
I agree that creative business is about sitting together and brainstorming ideas. Having said that I think that creative people have taken bigger onus for themselves to ensure they crack great ideas. We have seen some great concepts of late and I think that it’s because they are pushing themselves to do it. They are also figuring out ways of brainstorming – calls, crash on ideas, feedback, but I think they pushed a lot and a lot of respect for that.
On client expectations.
At the end of the day, they are also running a business. Having said that everyone has a human side to him or her and they also realise the situation. For instance, we did a no-work Wednesday at dentsu Impact and informed the clients before hand, and they supported it. We managed to give an off to people. Had they not supported us, it would have not been possible.
They have expectations from us. There is a dire need from our end to deliver on that. The good part is that there are people on both sides who understand each other. So, we are figuring out our own balance.
On the year 2020 for dentsu Impact.
It has been a good year. We have managed some new businesses and consolidated some great wins. We extended our relationship clients on different fronts. Initially, April and May was tough then slowly things picked up. During the lockdown too, we won a business, which was great. We have been aggressive and held on to our existing businesses.
So, approximately 15 per cent of the total revenue this year is coming from the new business wins.
On margins for creative agencies this year.
For the first two months (April – May), margins took a dip but we took cost-control measures and overall we have done a good job. Now, more or less, we are back to the pre-Covid levels.
On top priorities for dentsu Impact this year (once Covid hit).
Business continuity and people were our biggest priority. We have a way of working in advertising which was not going to be the same as people were moving home. We had to set up connectivity, machines in people’s houses, and most importantly had to deliver to clients because we are committed to them.
The second was people as they were going into different scenarios of work as to how you could keep everyone engaged.
On the future of agency culture.
If I say everything is normal and right, it would not be true. Some people who joined after lockdown, I have only seen them on video calls but haven’t met them in person. I love to meet, interact and discuss things with people and I honestly miss that. We are finding ways to do different things. For instance, we had some amazing pitches during this time and I could not imagine us pitching so fantastically where everything went like clockwork. For sure its not 100 per cent normal but the fun is in inventing new things right now.
NEW DELHI: Nelson Mandela, the former President of South Africa, had once said, “There can be no keener revelation of a society’s soul than the way in which it treats its children.”
Children’s Day is celebrated to raise awareness about the welfare of our children. Yet, look around and you will witness that the reality is quite far from the truth. Children are suffering everywhere and they are abused daily. Their basic rights, education, dignity, hope, and most of all, childhood is snatched away from them, every single day. Currently, millions of child labourers in India are employed across the country in various segments like homes, factories, construction sites, and elsewhere. Popularly referred to as 'Chotu', these children often deal with menial, backbreaking, and dangerous jobs.
In an ode to showcase this tragedy, dentsu Impact, the creative agency from the house of dentsu international, has launched an eye-opening film in association with My Choices Foundation and Saregama Caravan.
The film #ChotuKaChildhood showcases various versions of Chotu and the hellish world in which they exist. It communicates their silent suffering, a voice that the world can hear. It also sends out a message that the next time anyone sees such heinous abuses around, s/he must report it and not walk away. Only then, we will be able to save the world, one child at a time.
dentsu Impact managing partner and national creative director Anupama Ramaswamy said, “Seeing little children working to make ends meet is the worst form of pain. But we walk away, without reporting it. Why did we choose to launch the film on Children’s Day? We believe the contrast of using an occasion, which celebrates children to highlight their suffering, will make the bitter truth come to light more strongly. It is my hope that with more people understanding the message of the film, they will raise their voices against child labour, and help usher in change.”
Ramaswamy shared that the My Choices Foundation wanted the world to note that there are too many children who still do not enjoy full rights and free choices. “The problem is, we all feel sad when we see a child working for a living, but nobody reports such instances. They wanted to bring to notice the violence, abuse, and exploitation these children go through,” she said.
She further elaborated that every single situation depicted in the film is inspired by real life. The child labour problem in our country is because of child protection laws, organisations cannot ask people to click pictures or geotag the location, etc. “The only way is to urge people not to walk away. Not just empathise and feel pity, but to report. Every one of us needs to report such instances. In the last few days, a lot of eminent people have shared this film. The message is definitely being noticed. We cannot change the entire society, but even if a few people start reporting, I would like to believe our efforts paid off,” she shared.
My Choices Foundation’s aim is to see the transformation of India into a safe place for children, and hope this film will help them do that.
