In rural India, one can witness entire village life being led against the backdrop of walls. They have sewn themselves in the rural social fabric esp. for rural children who study in classes organized around one, or play cricket with wickets drawn on another and so on. But, in the absence of electricity, their learning stops as they have nothing worthwhile to do post sunset. They lose their charm. But so does our wall painting! So, we decided to light up their smiles by lighting up our wall paintings.

We created India’s first ever illuminated wall painting, powered by solar energy, which not only gave our brand uncontested visibility by making it the only brand visible post sunset in the entire village but also created an avenue for people, esp. children to come and spend time near the wall making them our captive audience!

The technology in itself is very simple but the beauty of innovation lies in marrying it with the medium, something no one has thought of in so many years of existence of both the medium and the technology.

The design is a wooden frame in the dimensions of our wall painting with LED light strips embedded on the edges. The same attach to a small battery that recharges during the day using solar energy. As the sun sets, the light sensors activate the lights automatically making our medium a night sun in an otherwise dark village.

The design also incorporates a foldable plank which the kids can pull to keep their books and/or notebooks on and a 4G enabled tab which kids can use to explore the world of internet. The local school teacher is made custodian of the unit allowing for children’ learning to continue well past sunset.

It’s a game changer idea in the industry where wall paintings are considered to have outgrown their relevance because of excessive media clutter but still used owing to their extensive reach. Our innovation gives a better ROI. For e.g., a traditional media plan would be to do 10 wall paintings of 100 square feet each in average Indian village. At 35 cents per square feet approximate investment would be USD 340. Illuminated wall paintings achieve better salience and added engagement through just one unit of 100 square feet.

The cost of the prototypes used in the pilot campaign done for Airtel was USD 309 per unit. We hope to bring it below USD 230 when we produce it in bulk. We are currently experimenting with different materials to increase durability and lower cost. Today, it is part of our media IP and a standard offering to all our clients.