Cannes Contenders 2018: J. Walter Thompson

Twenty Years in the Himalayas :Timelapse Trackers, Soundscape Ecologists, Naturalists and Photographers spent years recording live sounds of whistling winds, drop by drop percolation through rock surfaces and rare liquid percussions using weather insulated radio transmitters, parabolic microphones and underwater stream synthesizers.

 

Two years in sound design: These raw sounds were curated by sound engineers to create an original Himalayan soundscape that was embedded in a waterproof sound chip built inside the bottle cap. The sound of water is triggered by the release of pressure when the bottle is opened and silenced when the bottle is closed. 

 

Two minutes of time travel: The sound design was amplified with visual projection mapping of the soundscape, stitched together from Himalayan windscapes and waterscapes. This time travel video map was screened when the bottle was opened, on the walls of fine dining restaurants, elevating the experience into the multi sensorial.

 

The multi-sensoral message in a bottle: This experiential product innovation caught the attention of celebrity chefs, bloggers, editors and social influencers, when word of mouth went viral on the day of the launch in fine dining restaurants, 3D cinema halls and Supermarket Chains across Indian metros.Thousands of consumers were transported to the source of Himalayan water in the world’s tallest mountains, joining the timeless journey of a drop of water in every sense.

 

The objective was to motivate athletes, budding athletes and other viewers in the build up to the Commonwealth Games. And bring alive the brand truth of Gatorade in the context of international event and take a leap off the moment. This was a tactical campaign. And like any true sports drink, the brand wanted to be associated with a large sports event. 

 

The idea was to demonstrate the physical relay between the sweating athlete and the same replenished athlete. It was crucial to establish that both athletes are the same person in a side angle shot. The Gatorade bottle as the baton between the two athletes was the central element of the ad. It also kept the brand at the heart of the communication. The approach to art direction was to be minimalistic. With these is mind, the elements were seamlessly integrated.  Thus, producing an image that required no extra logo or even a creative expression to explain the idea. The Gatorade bottle is the baton between the sweating athlete and the same refreshed replenished athlete.  

 

Reading Newspapers is not a millennial habit. Less than three per cent of young Indians aka digital natives read the daily newspapers. Over 3 million students in English medium schools have read a newspaper. We saw the opportunity in the problem itself: Today's digital natives are tomorrow's readers of The Times Of India.

 

Education through entertainment is proven as the most memorable form of teaching out there. And it was time inspire and Ignite the reading habit.A short film on the reading habit of a newspaper boy who became the President of India. A musical narrative that delivered a dream of flying a fighter plane, to inspire a billion. An inspirational story told through a historic timeline of Times Of India newspapers from 1941 to 2017, building emotional milestones from newspaper headlines into the lyrics and integrating the brand into the narrative through seamless storytelling. 

 

The musical narrative in the ancient Indian form of storytelling through song is set to an emotional rythm. A historic form that is used in street theatre to move audiences to tears and inspire them to action. A powerful form of inspiration to ignite the newspaper reading habit among digital natives.  

 

 

Class Teacher - Nestle Times Power of print

India is haunted by a long past of suppression of girls and womankind. They continue to be suppressed domestically as well as communally and this traces back to when they were girls, deprived of the fundamental right to education. Owing to a lack of means and inclination, traditionally, the country has favoured only boys for education.

 

The idea was to bring alive the famous quote - ‘If you teach a boy, you educate an individual; teach a girl and you educate the entire community.'

 

The device of a class photograph has been used to illustrate the fact that when a girl child is educated, she also helps educate the rest of her family and community. So in the photograph, the place of the teacher is taken by a girl wearing a school uniform, and her ‘students’ are the members of her family. 

 

 

Rin introduced a unique Smart Foam Technology which reduces water consumption while rinsing clothes by half. This led to a 360 degree campaign – ‘Jal Samruddh Maharashtra’ that included building check dams, educational films and on-ground demonstrations on water saving. Having addressed the Maharashtra audience last year, Rin now wanted to reach out nationally to those unaware of the larger part of the country’s struggle with water crises. Create shock value - inspire the ‘haves’ to do their bit to save water, thereby support the ‘have-nots’. Thus create a national buzz among influencers.

 

Our idea was to create a stark image of an almost- dry well plunging into Mother earth looking like a bucket which is what most Indians use to do their washing. The well / bucket has perilously low levels of water so it is unable to quench the thirst of the hundreds gathered around it.

 

 

Despite free immunisation programs sponsored by the Government, millions of children die in the hinterlands of India due to diseases that could easily be prevented by complete immunisation.

 

However, many parents do not understand the importance of complete immunization and often leave it halfway. Our challenge was to convey to the caregivers of these children that half or part immunisation is useless.

 

Although only half in itself, the ‘half-toys’ told a full story about how useless incomplete immunisation was. The ‘half-toy’ invite intrigued not only the kids but also the caregivers and made them turn up for the events where the importance of complete immunisation was explained.

The ‘half-toys’ distributed to the kids made them pester their parents for the other half. Thus unconsciously, the kids stood up for their own good health and pushed their caregivers to do their parenting duty.

 

Volunteers and health workers went around distributing the ‘half-toys’ to villages and places in India that are hard to reach – 4,000 villages, 1.6 million caregivers contacted. The toys then served as an invite to an event where the other half was to be given out along with an important message on the importance of complete immunization. In total 17000 events were conducted.