By: Yohan P Chawla
Denstu Aegis Network’s Isobar India has submitted their entry for Cannes 2019. This is just the one campaign they have sent and it’s the #HerCourageLessons campaign for My School Reviews.com.
Medianews4U caught up with Anish Varghes, Chief Creative Officer, Isobar India to understand the behind the scenes of this campaign.
Please watch the campaign before reading further.
Read on
What went behind creating the campaign for My School Reviews.com?
MySchoolReviews.com campaign #HerCourageLessons is a product of real experiences and self-realization. When the team got together to discuss insights and observations for the brief, one idea strongly resonated with every woman sitting in the room — in India, boys are taught to be strong, and girls are taught to be safe, prevalence throughout the country despite the cultural differences. In a matter of a few minutes we had a pool of everyday’ advice’, a set of ‘don’t’ s’, that they get from their parents and loved ones in order to make them stay safe – “Avoid going out after dark”, “Don’t grab attention by wearing that”, “You should not be so vocal about everything”, there are lots !!
On digging further, this observation was backed by numbers — according to a 2018 report by Save The Children, a global non-profit organization, more than 63% of parents in India teach fear to their daughters. The fear training within girls has so engraved, leading to every girl’s psyche getting affected until their adulthood, limiting their confidence. The need for a new way of parenting arose, giving birth to #HerCourageLessons.
The campaign had two tasks: First, make parents realize how they are unintentionally fear training their daughters. We achieved this, through a series of short films that tweaked popular nursery rhymes, showing that just like rhymes, fear taught in childhood can be unforgettable.
The second task was to help parents start courage training their daughters. For this, we created a new vocabulary — vocabulary of courage, which redefines the letters of the English language, e.g., A for Ambition. N for No. V for Voice. This vocabulary would help parents to imbibe courageous traits in their daughters one letter at a time.
How did you establish the connection between the brand and the concept in the campaign?
MySchoolReviews.com believes that every child should receive a quality education from the start, be it in school or outside. This campaign allowed the brand a way to bridge the gap between how a girl is being raised since her childhood versus a boy. Being in the education sector, the brand was in a perfect position to bring a fresh outlook on girl child education in the country, and so we highlight the unintentional lessons that shape their psyche and are carried even into their adulthood. As childhood lessons leave a profound impact, the brand wanted adults to impart lessons that make little girls grow up to be fearless.
What was the brief given for the brand?
As a new entrant in the education sector, MySchoolReviews.com wanted to establish an identity for itself and build an emotional connect with its primary audience — parents.
How long did the team take to work on this campaign? Can you share some anecdotes from working on this campaign?
The end-to-end execution of the campaign took two months. We brainstormed on each letter of the courage vocabulary, what should the letter stand for, how can we show the courageous trait in the letter through illustration. Sometimes a single letter took three days because the team wanted to get the message just right. Our multi-cultural team that worked on this campaign added instances from their own cultures and upbringing in the design. The team also volunteered to take #HerCourageLessons to schools, and personally took curious parents through the letters. The response we got from the parents was overwhelming. One such response from a parent was, “Your words are echoing in my mind, I’m so moved by your work.” Reactions like these were a stamp of approval that what we did under the campaign was much needed in our society.
Why is this campaign the only entry for Cannes this year?
We always send entries which have a powerful insight which includes a regional connect and a creative play. Here the core insight we played within India, boys are taught to be strong, and girls are taught to be safe, prevalence throughout the country despite the cultural differences.
Which are the upcoming campaigns from Isobar, which according to you, are Cannes worthy?
A lot of campaigns are in the planning phase; it will take a couple of months to unfold.
