Vodafone connects traditional storytellers to children with #GiftAStory

On the occasion of Children's Day, Vodafone has released an activation '#GiftAStory'. The activation looks to connect the traditional storytellers (grandparents) with young school going children.

 

According to a statement from What's Your Problem, the idea originated from last year’s Vodafone Content Day organised by Vodafone's agency partners Maxus (now Wavemaker) and O&M.  #GiftAStory was envisaged and executed by What’s Your Problem 

 

The activity looks to connect those grandparents who aren't staying with their grandchildren. The elderly storytellers were connected to a generation of children, who haven't heard these stories. 

 

The brand roped in Storywallahs – a company dedicated to reviving the art of storytelling. It held the auditions at old age homes and housing societies across India to find the best storytellers who are grandparents and then trained them to narrate these stories. Using Vodafone’s video calling features, these storytellers were connected live to school children across India. The entire activation was captured through cameras. The video ends with an encouragement to download the actual stories narrated by the elderly, in video format, and share them with kids; urging one to #GiftAStory.

 

Siddharth Banerjee, EVP - marketing, Vodafone India, said, "We have found that urban families are time stressed and thus, sometimes 'quality-of-relationship' stressed. With too much pressure on the parents’ time especially in nuclear families, an important aspect of a child’s holistic development that perhaps gets neglected is the exposure to storytelling and thus, an impact on creative thinking. As a storyteller brand which connects people, our initiative is a humble attempt to strengthen the art of storytelling so that our children can imbibe learning from some fabulous Indian stories. Vodafone and WYP as a content partner thus, conceptualised #GiftAStory for this generation of kids on the occasion of Children’s Day. We are happy to revive the special bond between grandparents and children, thus bringing back some lovely Indian folklore and stories that we grew up on, ofcourse enabled by Vodafone technology.”

 

Tejas Mehta, director – account management and strategy, What’s Your Problem, said, “Content needn’t always just be entertainment or information, it can also be based on a powerful insight. That’s when people connect to it. And this piece of content shows a brand actually solving a real societal problem.”

 

Huzefa Roowala, director – content and creative ,What’s Your Problem, added, “Some of them had never performed for others before, but were determined to share their stories with kids. They trained hard; few even made their own puppets and finally floored the kids and us. This was a tough six months project, identifying storytelling experts, travelling to old age homes and societies, unearthing stories, training storytellers and finally performing it live in schools.”

 

CREDITS: 

 

Client: Vodafone

Creative agency: What’s Your Problem Brand Solutions

Managing partner and creative head: Amit Akali

Director - content and creative: Huzefa Roowala

Copy supervisor: Aditi Laxmanrao

Senior visualiser: Pawan Kotian

Creative supervisor: Shiva Yadav

Studio head: Saurabh Pal

Senior editor: Mohan Agre

Senior animator: Saurabh Lad

Junior editor: Ashish Mayekar

Associate CD: Sameer Murudkar

Creative director: Ruchita Zambre