MAM
ZEEL launches #BreakTheCoronaOutbreak campaign
MUMBAI: As the government of India takes continued efforts to encourage good hygiene behavior to safeguard people against the Covid-19 pandemic, it is critical that people act proactively and take precautionary measures to protect themselves and their loved ones. Zee Entertainment Enterprises Ltd (ZEEL) has taken a first-of-its-kind initiative – #BreakTheCoronaOutbreak, for the well-being of its audiences.
Maintaining basic hygiene by washing your hands regularly has been identified as one of the key steps to prevent the spread of the Coronavirus, as per the World Health Organisation guidelines. As per the Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology, on an average, humans could touch their face over 23 times in every waking hour and there could be many such other spontaneous contact points. Repeated handwashing is a precautionary measure to prevent the spread of virus. However, awareness alone cannot drive the kind of behaviour change that is required at scale. Taking the initiative to create a unique reminder for its viewers, ZEE has decided to pause the content across its channels with a 30 second break throughout the day.
Conceptualised by Lowe Lintas, 'pause' will encourage viewers in a creative manner, to use the break to wash their hands. ZEEL chief consumer officer Prathyusha Agarwal said, “As a responsible national television network which entertains 588 million individuals every week, it is our duty to educate and encourage every citizen to adopt and practice healthy habits to fight this pandemic. While several brands are driving awareness around good hygiene, we believe this initiative to pause content and remind our audience to wash their hands will actually drive behavior. Pausing our content when the audience is most engaged will act as an in-home trigger to wash hands and contribute towards combating the spread of the outbreak.”
Lowe Lintas COO Sagar Kapoor said, “Having worked on health and hygiene brands for years, my learning is no matter how much we remind people for washing hands, there will always be laggards. Its importance is at a peak in today’s situation. Hence, a straightforward reminder to wash hands with soap.”
#BreakTheCoronaOutbreak initiative has been rolled out across 40+ channels of the ZEE network, collectively reaching approximately 588 million individuals across the country every week. As a responsible organisation, ZEE aims to support the authorities in their awareness drive against the COVID-19, through a sharp behavioural reminder using its strength as a television network to reach out to the length and breadth of the country.
AD Agencies
Fevicol releases its last ad campaign by the late Piyush Pandey
The adhesive brand’s last campaign by the late advertising legend Piyush Pandey turns an everyday Indian obsession into a quietly powerful metaphor
MUMBAI: Fevicol has never needed much of a plot. A sticky bond, a wry observation, a truth that every Indian instantly recognises — that has always been enough. “Kursi Pe Nazar,” the brand’s latest television commercial, is no different. And yet it carries a weight that no previous Fevicol film has had to bear: it is the last one its creator, the advertising legend Piyush Pandey, will ever make.
The film, released on Tuesday by Pidilite Industries, fixes its gaze on the kursi — the chair — and what it means in Indian life. Not just as a piece of furniture, but as a currency of ambition, a vessel of authority, and a source of quiet social drama that plays out in every home, office and institution across the country. Who sits in the chair, who waits for it, and who eyes it hungrily from across the room: the film transforms this sharply observed cultural truth into a narrative that is, in the best Fevicol tradition, funny, warm and instantly familiar.
The campaign was Pandey’s idea. He discussed it in detail with the team before his death, but did not live to see it shot. Prasoon Pandey, director at Corcoise Films who helmed the commercial, said the team needed five months to find its footing before they felt ready to shoot. “This was the toughest film ever for all of us,” he said. “It was Piyush’s idea, magical as always.”
The emotional weight of that responsibility was not lost on the team at Ogilvy India, which created the campaign. Kainaz Karmakar and Harshad Rajadhyaksha, group chief creative officers at Ogilvy India, described the process as “a pilgrimage of sorts, on the path that Piyush created not just for Ogilvy, but for our entire profession.”
Sudhanshu Vats, managing director of Pidilite Industries, said the film was rooted in a distinctly Indian insight. “The ‘kursi’ symbolises aspiration, transition, and ambition,” he said. “Piyush Pandey had an extraordinary ability to elevate such everyday observations into iconic storytelling for Fevicol. This film carries that legacy forward.”
That legacy is considerable. Over several decades, Pandey’s partnership with Fevicol produced some of the most beloved advertising in Indian history, building the brand into something rare: a household name that people actively enjoy watching sell to them.
“Kursi Pe Nazar” does not try to be a tribute. It simply tries to be a great Fevicol film. By most measures, it succeeds — which is, in the end, the most fitting send-off of all.
