BYJU’s latest advertisement for Gandhi Jayanti aims to spread positivity and celebrate Indians who embody Gandhiji’s values

• On the occasion of Gandhi Jayanti, Indian brands try to reflect on Gandhiji’s values of self-discipline, perseverance and self-sufficiency and pay a tribute to the father of our nation.
• This year, Edtech giant BYJU’s campaign applauds four individuals who have personified Gandhi’s ideals and brought about a change in society.
• Recently appointed Vineet Singh, Vice President, Brand & Creative StrategyThink & Learn Pvt. Ltd. (BYJU'S) takes us behind the scenes and walks us through the conceptualisation and execution process of the campaign.

It is no secret that COVID-19 has had a severe impact on our collective mental health. We are feeling alone, overwhelmed with the spike in cases, and have been living with the constant fear that someone close to us or someone we know might succumb to the virus, for the past 1.5 years. With each passing day, it gets a little difficult to hold onto hope for a better tomorrow. If the father of the nation, Mahatma Gandhi were alive today, when we are faced with multi-layered crises such as global pandemic, climate crisis, economic recession, to name a few, he would have encouraged Indian citizens to manifest values of self-discipline, perseverance, and self-sufficiency. He would have walked with our urban migrants back to their homes, reminded us to stay united from a distance, used his mighty pen to send the message of resilience, thank doctors and environmental activists for their phenomenal work and lead the country towards the path of empathy and togetherness.

On the occasion of Mahatma Gandhi Jayanti, EdTech Giant BYJU’s wanted to remind us that while the leader might not be with us today, he has taught us some invaluable lessons. Acted and voiced-over by the veteran actor Padma Shri Manoj Kumar, BYJU’S film applauds four individuals from different walks of life who have personified Gandhi’s ideals and brought about a change in society.

The campaign celebrates Jamuna Tuddu, a Padma Shri awardee who has over the years fought the jungle mafia and given a lease of life to 100+ acre of forests; Sapan Patralekh, headmaster of a school in Jharkhand, who ensured that the learning journey for tribal kids did not suffer due to the closure of class rooms post the pandemic. He transformed village walls into colorful open classrooms; Dr Ganesh Rakh, who delivers girl child for free in his hospital; Kameshwar Wagmare, a 14-year-old kid who saved 2 of 3 kids from drowning. He received the Pradhan Mantri, Rashtriya Bal Puraskar 2021 for the courageous act.

Vineet Singh, Vice President, Brand & Creative StrategyThink & Learn Pvt. Ltd. (BYJU'S) took us behind the scenes and walked us through the conceptualisation and execution process of the campaign. He shared, “The thought came from the fact that we really wanted to celebrate Baapu and we wanted to celebrate him with real life stories and how, while the whole world is talking about how humanity is dead, and people are not selfless anymore, we wanted to actually go out and celebrate that Baapu's belief of selflessness is still alive.”

In a country of 138 crore people that is home to a lot of different cultures and traditions, and almost all of these cultures believe in celebrating empathy and selflessness, it was challenging for BYJU’s to find just four people who truly embody Gandhiji’s values.

Telling us how the in-house team finalised their campaign’s protagonists, Singh said, “We wanted to cover a few facets that currently are troubling us across the country. Look at how the environment is suffering -- it's a conversation that everyone's having across the globe. Padmashree Jamuna Tuddu was an example who exists in our society and has worked towards saving 100 plus acres of forest in her region, but her message travels across the country. Then, we wanted to honor people who are doing something for the girl child. As a country, we are developing and we are getting to a place where men and women are getting equal as the day progresses, but little efforts like what Dr. Ganesh Rakh has done, is making that dream come true. After the pandemic, all schools were shut down in cities, and imagine what happened in remote Tribal Areas. So, we wanted to cover how people went out of their way there to bring alive education and Dr. Sapan was a great story. And finally, just an act of selflessness and bravery -- a 14-year -old kid jumping into the water because he saw two other young boys drowning. So, the reason why we chose these 4 people was because their stories were extremely fascinating, had a huge amount of thought and selflessness associated with it.”

Singh recently joined BYJU’s from WeWork India. In his new role, he is hoping to help BYJU’s become the most loved edtech brand in India. His latest campaign with his team is just a part of many campaigns that would aim to position BYJU’s India’s most loved brand. Sharing his larger vision for the brand, he said, “The objective is to become one of the most loved brands in the country. And that's going to be the objective for this fiscal year, or the next fiscal year or any other fiscal year that we talk about until we get there.”

CREDITS:

Featured Stories: Dr. Sapan Kumar Patralekh, Dr. Ganesh Rakh, Padma Shri Jamuna Tudu and Kameshwar Waghmare
Actor: Padma Shri Manoj Kumar
Child Actor: Aashna Vaishnav & Vidhaan Sharma
Concept: Hitesh Bhagia (Sr. Director – Brand & Creative Strategy, BYJU’S)
Production: Hitesh Theodore Pereira (Principal Director - Media, BYJU’S)
Directed By: Sonal Batra
Production House: Dora Digs
Produced By: Akshay Shah
Team Dora Digs: Muskan Singhal, Vikas Malhotra, Suraj Shinde, Prathamesh Kamble,
Vipul Mehta, Tushar Haware, Jitendra Kumar, Rohit Tiwari, Dinesh Malvi
DOP: Jay Charola
Editor: Falgun Busa
Screenplay: Geet Sagar
Music Director: Anand Bajpai
Associate Producer: Sebastian Francis
Line Producer: Dilip Sahoo & Team
Chief AD: Ayan Poddar & Ardra Swaroop
DI: Yash Soni