New Delhi: Facebook India has launched ‘Nayi Shuruaat’, its latest campaign to celebrate the small businesses of India, and the resilience they have shown to pivot and make a new start or a ‘nayi shuruaat’ amidst the deepest crisis the world has seen in recent times. Conceptualised by Wunderman Thompson India, the campaign will run across print, digital, and television and showcase real stories of positive economic recovery from across the country.
As India shut down in response to the pandemic, the Internet remained open with the Facebook family of apps playing a key role in connecting people, businesses, and communities. At a time when COVID-19 adversely affected several small businesses, many of them turned to Facebook to keep their operations going by moving online.
Nayi Shuruaat has been launched with a film that focuses on three unique small businesses – The Moms Co that sells toxin-free mom and baby products, coffee brewing small business Sleepy Owl, and Doodlage, a sustainable fashion brand. While coming from distinct industries, all three businesses bounced back from the pandemic by leveraging the strength and reach of their Facebook and Instagram communities.
Speaking about Nayi Shuruaat, Neha Markanda, Head of Business Marketing at Facebook India said, “Facebook’s goal has always been to enable new opportunities for the more than 60 million small businesses across India. In the face of so much uncertainty, we’ve remained inspired by how small businesses have reinvented themselves by moving online and using the power of community on our platforms to make a new start for their businesses. We wanted to take some of these real stories to the world, and we’re thrilled to partner with Wunderman Thompson for the same. This film is an ode to the resilience of the millions small and emerging businesses across the country who made their nayi shuruaats amidst these challenging times.”
Joy Chauhan, Managing Partner, Wunderman Thompson, Delhi added, “Community’s trust and loyalty has long been the backbone of the MSME sector in India. With the onslaught of COVID-19, when the world was shutting shops, Facebook fuelled this sector by offering them this very power of community online. Thus, enabling a transformation. As a creative partner, to bring this saga alive, we banked on fascinating stories of ‘Nayi Shuruaat’ stemming from within the society. Because we strongly believe, during taxing hours, real life success stories act like catalysts of hope and aspiration.”
Talking about the creative opportunity for Nayi Shuruaat, Siddharth Prasad, Executive Creative Director & Vice president, Wunderman Thompson, Delhi, said, “We began this project with the understanding that we would be completely authentic in the execution. And sometimes a constraint like this becomes a powerful trigger. The reason this film feels so real is because it is. The business owners acted as themselves (and what a lovely job they did), we mostly shot in their offices and facilities, and it turned out great. What you’ll see are three real, ongoing stories – and they’re as recent as a few weeks ago.”
In the last few months Facebook has also taken numerous steps to support the economic recovery of small businesses. As part of Facebook’s $100 million global grant for small businesses, the company announced a $ 4.3 million grant for small businesses in India. Facebook has also taken its industry leading skilling programs online to provide continuous support to small businesses through the pandemic. Its flagship skilling program ‘Boost with Facebook’ is now being delivered through Facebook Lives in both English and Hindi to reach out to a larger audience. The company recently rolled out a local SMB Guide in Hindi and English to help small businesses move online seamlessly, reaching out to 9 million small businesses across India. The FB Advertiser Vintage program focused on skilling young businesses also pivoted to webinars, skilling more than 3000 businesses this year. To build the ecosystem for small business growth in the country, the VC brand incubator program that collaborates with venture capital funds also went virtual and has tied-up with 7 venture capital funds so far.
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