BharatMatrimony is an online matrimony service, and has been making marriages happen since 1997. A strong believer in equal and happy marriages, BharatMatrimony believes that a happy marriage can't be based on stopping a woman from achieving their goals and full potential.

Jaisalmer, a town in Rajasthan, India, has one of the lowest adult female literacy rate in the country - below 40%. Shocking as it might seem, for generations, parents have been choosing marriage over education for their daughters. It was not the same for sons; leading to a staggering 28% literacy rate gap between men and women.

Our key objective was to bring a behavioural change in the parents of Jaisalmer, and let them, for the first time, give this life-changing choice to their daughters. With this, we hoped to reduce the inequality and give these girls a chance to study further.

For generations, parents in Jaisalmer choose marriage for their daughters instead of education. In the culture, the family’s biggest accomplishment is to get their daughters married. By getting their daughters married by their early twenties, the family is considered to have done its more important and sacred duty.

This accomplishment is such a proud moment for the parents, that they announce it on the walls of their house with an age-old traditional art form, called the Wedding Art.

Each Wedding Art comprise of:

* An image of Lord Ganesha, a God worshipped during wedding ceremonies.

* The name of the bride and groom.

* Wishes for a great married future.

* A proud message from the family.

Marriage of a daughter in the city of Jaisalmer is so buried in tradition that any other choice is usually not considered. And thus, the education of the girl suffers.

We wanted the girls of Jaisalmer to have the choice to decide what they would want to choose - Education or Marriage. Pehle Padhai, Phir Shaadi (Education First, Marriage Later) was our step in that direction.

It started with M.S. Dhoni, India's most popular celebrity, appealing to the parents of Jaisalmer to be a part of the World’s Biggest Social Experiment by giving their daughters this life-changing choice. The entire city was a part of the experiment.

The girls choosing education were celebrated in the customary way of the city, with a special art on the walls of their homes – the Education Art.

Inspired from the Wedding Art, the new-age Education Art had:

- Goddess Saraswati, the goddess of education

- Name of the daughter with the course she chose to study

- Wishes for a great future.

- A message of pride from the family supporting this choice.

BharatMatrimony can access first-party data which comprises of:

* Name

* Phone Number

* Age

* Qualification

* Location

Adding to the third-party data provided by the Indian Government Census, we realized that in Jaisalmer the number of girls opting out of studying correlated with the girls getting married. Thus, the city of Jaisalmer was the audience for this campaign.

But it wasn’t easy as we were going against a deep-rooted cultural behaviour and an age-old tradition. Therefore it was important for us to not only get noticed but also sound sincere.

Using the most lovable and honest Indian celebrity was a step in that direction.

We chose the peak wedding season in the month of March as the ideal time to raise awareness about this issue. With our campaign, we wanted to create a new tradition that celebrates the future generations of girls choosing education over marriage.

During the peak wedding season in Jaisalmer, the campaign was kickstarted with M.S. Dhoni's featured series of films, appealing to parents to give the critical choice to their daughters. With this, each citizen of Jaisalmer was sent SMSs asking them to reply with their choice. Participants could simply reply with M or E, for marriage and education respectively.

While many chose marriage, few stood against the tide and made the courageous decision to study further. The walls of their homes were decorated with the newly-created Education Art, celebrating their decision. The Education Art featured:

- Goddess Saraswati, the goddess of education

- Name of the daughter with the course she chose to study

- Wishes for a great future.

- A message of pride from the family supporting this choice.

These paintings stood to be symbols of inspiration for the future generation of girls to put education before marriage.

Changing a generational custom overnight is impossible. We know that. But what we were able to do is change it for 8 girls. Yes, 8. That’s how many will be studying further, pursuing their dreams. Encouraging the discussion between these girls and their parents has changed their lives for the better while inspiring the rest. As they say, teaching a girl is like teaching an entire village.

During the campaign, we managed to get 427 responses from parents. We had a total interaction of 1183 messages with parents. The whole campaign garnered a total reach of 34.13M and an earned media of INR 9.26M. Our video featuring Indian Cricket Superstar MS Dhoni garnered 12.71M views making sure the conversation around it is not limited to a few.

Today, these 8 walls stood tall, sparking a discussion among parents while inspiring the future generation of girls to choose education over marriage.