Situation: India is the world’s most populous democracy and one of the most religious and ethnically diverse nations. Historically, this diversity has been its strength. However, today, these are becoming differences and threatening to question the idea of India. Against this backdrop, the core Indian principle of ‘Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam’ (meaning ‘One Earth One Family One Future’) is more relevant than ever.

In the 75th year of India’s Independence, The Times of India (TOI), India’s largest circulating English daily, decided to not just chronicle but to shine a spotlight on the beauty of the unity in India’s diversity.

Brief: Remind the people of India that a common thread continues to bind everyone as one nation, despite diverse differences.

Objective: Drive engagement by sparking conversations about what India means to its people, across all platforms.

The creative idea: #WhatMakesUsOne

• Born with the aim to reinvigorate the many reasons that make the people of India one.

• Highlighting the many unifying threads through song and speech.

• Inspiring every Indian to share their words/views and spark conversations.

The narrative reveals the invisible thread of unity in diversity through the visible thread of light in the video timeline and stitches a billion voices into one song in an audio timeline.

This thread of light binds all of India as one family, connecting the dots between multiple religions, regions, cultures, languages, and festivals and dissolving our differences and distances at the speed of light. The thread of light travels across the country from Kashmir to Kanyakumari, from Mumbai to Meghalaya, cinematically and metaphorically capturing a day in the life of India through timelapse and timeless transitions. The musical narrative binds over a billion voices into one song.

Our Audience: TOI, as the national daily and market leader, was speaking to all of India. This meant capturing the hearts and minds of Indians across generations, from the young tech-savvy millennials to the wise elderly citizens who have witnessed the country's evolution over the last 75 years. Whether urban centres or emerging rural hubs, all of India is TOI’s audience. This audience was very diverse, yet there were certain common traits that united them.

Media Planning and Approach: To maximise impact, we planned the campaign to go live two weeks leading up to India’s Republic Day (26th January), the day on which India’s constitution was adopted. Patriotism is high during this time. The key constitution tenets, such as secularism, also fit with the creative idea of WhatMakesUsOne.

Launching two weeks in advance also enabled us to capitalise on specific harvest festivals, where people unite to celebrate India.

Three print implementations were created, spanning TOI’s unmatched 51 editions. Staying true to our media insight, we designed for both print and integrated engagement.

• The central-coloured illustration, launched on Republic Day, brought to life multiple instances of India’s achievements. One QR code across all advertisements took the readers to the campaign film. The other was unique to each ad, which led to an AR filter. This filter transported the reader into the print ad and allowed him to transpose his face onto the main character in the ad. This could then be screenshot and shared on Instagram and Facebook.

• Six unique print advertisements featured two different QR codes. Each advertisement covered a different topic, highlighting India’s achievements in diverse fields. Space, sports, digital adoption, and more, all were united by a common visual thread.

• A One-Word Contest invited Indians to share their idea of #WhatMakesUsOne.

#WhatMakesUsOne reinvigorated the many reasons that make the people of India one. Unique print advertising communicated the message and created an opportunity for interactivity.

• Overachieved Engagement - 90M.

• AR-themed print ads featuring QR codes were scanned 85,000+ times, allowing people to watch the film and place themselves in ads.

• The Republic Day full-page illustration innovation celebrated oneness with several mini stories.

• The One-Word Contest, inviting Indians to share their idea of #WhatMakesUsOne, was amplified editorially and by celebrities inviting participation. This drove 230,000 respondents across 720+ cities.

• Prominent citizens – Infosys Founder Narayan Murthy, and Footballer Bhaichung Bhutia, and many others joined the conversation.

The films garnered 87.5M views across social media, the highest by a media house.

With these results, TOI reminded the country that it doesn’t just chronicle the times but shapes the times India lives in, through the power of popular culture.