Ganesh Chaturthi, a 9-day Ganesh festival, is celebrated with lots of enthusiasm in Pune-City. But the festival also has its dark side. In India, it is believed Lord Ganesha comes to earth to take sorrows of the devotees. So, the immersion of idols symbolizes dissolving of problems in water bodies. During Ganesh Chaturthi on the day of bidding goodbye to the lord, over 5ook Ganesh idols are immersed in local lakes and ponds. 97% of these idols are made up of Plaster of Paris (PoP) i.e. calcium sulfate hemihydrate. It takes several months to totally dissolve Ganesh Idols made up of PoP into water. Also, colors used in the decoration of idols contain harmful chemicals containing mercury, lead, which leaks into the water as idol dissolves. It increases acid content, Total Dissolved Solids (TDS) and heavy metals in water, which kills aquatic-plants and marine-life, damaging the ecosystem under water.

As a result, water-pollution rises by 300% every year. Which meant that the goodbye to the lord, wasn’t good for the environment!

With Vodafone’s new positioning we had to find a long-term tech solution to control water pollution in Pune & establish it as “futuristic-brand that cares for the environment."

The analysis showed that people are aware and show intent to control environmental hazards caused during Ganesh Chaturthi. But in-spite of high intent, it wasn’t translating into action. We came across 3 barriers –

1. Affordability: Cost of eco-friendly idols was 5 times of PoP idols.

2. Availability: Supply of eco-friendly idols is limited, only 3% of vendors sold them.

3. Tradition: People didn’t want to change the tradition of PoP idols.

These learnings indicated that the main barriers were cost and tradition, which led us to the insight that “People prefer convenience over change.”

Which implied, if we enable people with a solution which doesn’t make them spend more or change their tradition and yet be eco-friendly, they will adopt the solution.

Thus, was born the idea of World’s first SMART-POND, which converted the POP and Lead-residue into fertilizers for farmers. It helped us put the Good in Goodbyes!

To create “World’s First Smart-Pond” we partnered with National Chemical Lab (NCL) & Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC).

Our Smart-Pond had 4 components:

1. Weighing Machine

2. Chemical solution Dispenser

3. pH scale

4. Vodafone IOT Device

The idols immersed in these eco-ponds were treated with a chemical “ammonium bi-carbonate” that disintegrates PoP idols and converts the residue into fertilizer, “A blessing for nature”.

The eco-ponds came equipped with Vodafone sim-based sensors that constantly transmitted systematic data like water levels and the aggregate weight of idols in real time. With this information, PMC and NCL could then initiate the process of converting the idols into fertilizers.

To ensure easy adoption we made access to the smart-pond convenient-

• We installed Smart Ponds at the ambiance of 7 Vodafone stores across Pune

• 4 Mobile Visarjan Vans had a dedicated helpline no. and took the smart pond to the people who called.

To spread awareness for Smart pond, we created a campaign called – ‘Good in Goodbye’.

Digital: We created a video called #Goodingoodbye which spoke about the Smart Pond benefit and where to find them. This video was promoted on YouTube and Facebook. On search and GDN we targeted people searching for eco-friendly Ganesh or had a high affinity towards the environment. We generated 600k+ views!

Radio: Along with frequency spots on radio stations, we got popular RJs to do live-coverage from various Smart Pond centers.

Mobile Vans: Our 4 Mobile Immersion Vans visited 35+ complexes announcing the smart pond solution.

Own Media – Vodafone reached over 1Mn devotees by sending SMS, while also tweeting #goodingoodbyes out from the Vodafone handle.

PR: Leading English and regional dailies covered this initiative while leading news channels ran special clippings.

Influencer: Lots of celebrities and other influencers in Pune tweeted about the Smart pond!

5000+ idols were immersed in Vodafone Smart Ponds across Pune in 9 days

167K+ liters of Fertilizers were created and distributed amongst farmers

3Mn+ Total Impressions on Digital

190K+ engagements on social media, 600k+ video views

Close to 27% reduction in pollution (with 300% as the base)

Earned media worth INR 30Mn.

The post-campaign poll showed – 3 out of 5 people in Pune knew about Smart Pond and wish to use it next year