In today’s digital world human interaction with one another is at all time low. Imagine 1.2 billion people living together without any physical human contact whatsoever. Connecting people in the real world via Digital medium is of utmost importance. Century old traditions & practices have taken a backseat in quest of the modern lifestyle.

This work takes the best of both worlds and gave birth to a new form of culture which is fast becoming a trend in one of the fastest growing digital markets of the world. It re-established a human to human connect with a pinch of digital.

India with 9.87 Mn farmers is primarily a land of agriculture and farming. Harvesting is hence a critical and rather important period all over India. This decides the economy of the country.

Pongal festival marks the beginning of this harvest season. It’s the most ancient & traditional festival of India which in fact is celebrated in various names such as Makar Sankranthi, Lohri & Bihu by more than a billion people across the nation.

During this festival people actually come out of their homes and celebrate with one and other forgetting their individual differences.

With increasing digital penetration there has been a growing sense of individualization and human contact has become a luxury.

JioTogether was the campaign theme & signified “Community Pongal” where 1800 plus rural students of various religions/socioeconomic strata were mobilized together and bonded to celebrate the festival on a profane platform.

Jio wished to connect the overlooked yet deep-rooted Indian Traditions with cutting edge technology using the festival as a platform and strived to commemorate the traditional values of the festival rather than commercializing it with plain product promotion.

To showcase the innovative quest of the brand, we chose to celebrate the festival in a novel manner sans losing the very essence of century old culture & traditions.

"Pongal" means “overflowing” which is epitomised by the traditional ritual of boiling freshly harvested rice in clay pots.

We got 1800 plus female students and another 3500 plus male students to jointly cook, celebrate and enjoy the Pongal broth in their college campus. The overflowing of the cooked rice broth was also matched with the overflowing response from the nearly 5000 plus people present and participating, symbolizing overflow of joy & prosperity in people’s lives.

The On-ground campaign was planned within a reputed college campus which boasted a massive strength of 30000 plus students thereby making it the biggest ever cynosure of the state. Since the campaign was riding on a religiously agnostic platform involving the ever-exuberant youth segment, Jio ensured enhanced online/offline interactivity and virality component was infused through social media handles such as Instagram, Twitter, Facebook & YouTube. The campaign was much amplified through high decibel promotions communicated at multiple touch points like Television, Print media and in the digital space. There was an overall festive atmosphere in the college from 1st Jan – 15th Jan and this was harnessed with a ‘Come one bring all” campaign.

People’s immersive involvement with the campaign was reminiscent of their fascination with respect to their belief & faith towards the traditional & cultural values of the country.

The event was of mammoth scale and grand magnitude as it involved 1800 plus girl students and 3500 plus male students all draped in traditional sarees & dhotis relinquishing their modern outfits. The activation spanned across 2 days. In addition, a record was set with the students aligning themselves in a manner to form the Jio logo. The official marksmen of the Unique book of World records present were taken aback.

Inside the logo, the students cooked Pongal using only traditional methods without any modern equipment’s such as steel utensils and gas stoves. Every aspect of cooking was of traditional model right from the usage of clay pots, brick base, raw firewood to mouthpiece blowers. The rural youth embarked on a very nostalgic emotional journey. It inspired 1.2 billion people to join hands and celebrate the festival and bring back the lost human connect.

Jio World record became the talk of the state as the feat was extensively covered by leading television and print media which was totally unpaid.

• Nearly 10 million people were exposed to the campaign through television coverage and by leading newspapers/magazines.

• 9 prime regional news channels & 12 leading newspapers/magazines telecasted/carried out the feat article.

• Jio brand imagery in rural heartland got a major fillip and shot in the arm for striking the perfect emotional chord with the rural youth.

• Campaign created excellent top of mind recall for the brand across the state.

• Jio data consumption skyrocketed by 36% on the succeeding week of the event.

• Jio subscriber base witnessed a steep surge of 23% with 12 % increase in people shifting to Jio from competition

• Jio entertainment apps such as JioTV, JioCinema, JioSaavn observed substantial increase in the patronage among the rural belt of Tamil Nadu.