Ganesh Chaturthi might still be some months away. But last week, ad people put their hands together, not in obeisance, but in applause. The elephant-headed god was the toast of the marketing and advertising fraternity at the IAA Olive Crown Awards 2016 as not one but four campaigns, putting Lord Ganesha at the centrepiece of their creativity, picked up awards that night. The Olive Crown is given to creative excellence in communicating sustainability in the last one year.
During last year’s Ganesh Chaturthi, ad agency Ogilvy & Mather decided to exclaim, ‘God Save the Ocean!’ Instead of making this a platform to discourage consumers from immersing Ganesha idols in the sea, the agency went and took a leap of ‘faith’.
An NGO, Sprouts Environment Trust, was involved in cleaning up the beaches in Mumbai every year after the immersion of Ganesha. It was not just the beach that required some cleaning. The toxic paints used to paint the gigantic Ganesh idols played havoc with life in the ocean. The lethal mix of lead, zinc, mercury and Plaster of Paris were responsible for the death of marine life. Ogilvy and Sprouts came up with a unique idea. What if someone made Ganesha Idols with fish food? Of course, vegetarian ingredients such as soya, wheat, spinach and corn would go into the making of the fish food. The paints used on the nine-inch idols would also be natural food colours. The response from consumers was amazing. The 3,500-odd idols created by the agency were sold out in no time. Rajiv Rao, NCD, Ogilvy, says that the agency plans to make it bigger and better this year.
In another campaign, Ogilvy created what it calls a ‘Tree Ganesha’. The sculpted idol of Ganesha was made from mud and installed on a garden pot. There were seeds embedded within the idols. Once the 10-day festival was over, instead of immersing the idol, the worshippers had to just pour water on the Ganesha and it would settle nicely into the garden pot. The seeds would someday become a tree.
Away with e-waste The lord of new beginnings also helped focus on the issue of e-waste. In a campaign called Electronic Ganesha (e-ganesha), the agency DDB Mudra brought e-waste into the limelight for electronics retailer e-Zone. The trigger was an Assocham report that highlighted the fact that India generates 13 lakh tonnes of e-waste annually. Of that figure, 2 lakh tonnes of e-waste is being produced by just three cities — Delhi NCR, Bengaluru and Mumbai. As a major chunk of this electronic waste is being handled by the unorganised sector, it further led to environmental pollution and health hazards.
During the last Ganesh Chaturthi, the e-tailer created a larger-than-life installation of Ganesha made from old electronic appliances. These appliances were exchanged for new goods by consumers.
According to the company, the purpose of this installation was to not only ask people to celebrate new beginnings but also to gift their old electronics a new life as well, in line with the spirit of the festival. Is there a strong connection between Lord Ganesha and the environment? Sonal Dabral, Chairman and CCO, DDB Mudra Group, says that the festival was a topical event which advertising used to connect better with people. “We would do the same for Diwali or Holi,” he says, pointing out to the paper patakha ad the agency created for retailer Big Bazaar. Ogilvy’s Rao adds that there is a growing awareness among consumers about the environmental impact of our festivals. “Agencies are seeing this transformation and using the message in their brand communication,” he says. The lord would certainly be pleased with that.