Taking giant steps to end Filaria with awareness campaign

Sabin Vaccine Institute and Global Network have rolled out a two minute film that has been conceptualised by Ogilvy & Mather Mumbai.  The film falls in line with the Ministry of Health & Family Welfare (MOHFW) goal of eliminating lymphatic filariasis in India within the next two years and aims to advocate the use of taking the free medication that could ensure that people are not infected by Filaria.

The film begins in a field in a village, where a group of children are playing a game of cricket. As the ball is hit into the nearby field, a young boy runs after it only to stumble onto a footprint that could belong only to giant. Curious the group of children decide to follow it.

The footsteps take them through a village and its surrounding areas. As the children walk deeper into the village, more people are attracted to the phenomenon and eventually the small group has swelled into a large crowd that is eager to see who the foot belongs to.

It is revealed that the footsteps lead to a small medical facility in the village and as one of the villagers opens the door, a voice is heard saying, “I told you that I will bring the entire village.”

As the film moves into the medical room, we see a man who is suffering from filaria. As the entire village enters the room, a nurse and the man suffering from the illness inform the crowd about the illness and the preventive steps people can take to avoid it.

The film ends with the campaign logo.

Richard Hatzfeld, communications director, Sabin Vaccine Institute and Global Network, said,  “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 they face a significant hurdle in encouraging people to participate in mass drug administrations. Through 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.  We selected Ogilvy & Mather India and Little Lamb Films as our creative partners and they overcame some truly daunting challenges to get the job done.”

Sumanto Chattopadhyay, executive creative director of Ogilvy India, said, “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.”

Credits:
Client: Sabin Vaccine Institute/Global Network for Neglected Tropical Diseases
Creative agency: Ogilvy & Mather, Mumbai
Creative: Sumanto Chhatopadhyay, Abhijit Karandikar, Jyotsna Parikh, Nilay Moonje, Meghna Hiran, Mayuresh Natalkar, Creative Credits - Dharini Pradhan and Shubhojit Chattopadhyay.
Planning: Khushnuma Daruwala, Bhakti Mallik
Account management: Prakash Nair, Aroon Ramchandran, Heena Mordani, Jennifer Desai
Director: Bauddhayan Mukherji
Producer: Shraddha Singhvi
Production house: Little Lamb Films