Clean air is fast becoming a luxury and children are the most affected. The battle against pollution is a challenging one and needs monumental effort from governments and industries. But the efforts are not progressing fast enough. Which is why we want to put the power in the hands of the people–through the Pollution Pencils program. Launched through a carefully planned PR effort, this self-sustaining ecosystem for change invites people to join the cause through pencil sales and donations. This in turn helps supply and maintain air purifiers in schools bringing cleaner air to underprivileged students across the country.

MISSION:

Otrivin Nasal Health is on a mission to help every child breathe better. Since 2021, our worldwide ‘Actions to Breathe Cleaner’ campaign has launched a series of initiatives to mitigate the impact air pollution has on children.

SITUATION:

We know breathing bad air can cause fatigue, poor concentration, asthmatic flare-ups, illness, and absenteeism. And students in India’s low income schools spend up to 8 hours a day in classrooms where the polluted air can exceed WHO limits by 4x or more.

OBJECTIVE

For our India chapter, we wanted to make classrooms in low-income schools a healthier and safer space, because we believed breathing cleaner air could inspire its students to design a better future.

As part of its mission to help every child breathe better, Otrivin Nasal Health decided to turn air pollution in low-income schools into something positive: Pollution Pencils!

Made with toxic particles harvested from purifiers installed in schools, child-safe Pollution Pencils were made as part of the pilot project.

Students received these child-safe pencils in unique packaging that represented their schools as a happier and more hopeful place, while also teaching them about the impact of air pollution.

We also used the pencils as a fundraising tool, allowing people to purchase them as well as to donate to the cause. This helped create a self-sustaining ecosystem for change, one that funds and supplies more air purifiers to schools across India.

With no media budget, we needed to grab the attention of the public, and mainstream media so our program could become part of the news cycle and get the reach it deserved.

We targeted:

- Affluent Indian parents and the general public: to educate them about air pollution in schools, and urge them to donate to the cause.

- Corporations and governments: to change the on-ground impact of air pollution on children.

- Influencers: to raise awareness about our mission; with mainstream media playing an important role to create awareness about our program.

Our strategy:

We used Pollution Pencils as an educational tool for students, and a fundraising tool for the public. Because the more awareness we created, the more money we raised, the more air purifiers we could place in schools, the more residue we could harvest, and the more pencils we could make and sell.

We saw the viral potential of the Pollution Pencils program, and decided to take a precise approach to press outreach. In phase 1, our local PR partner leveraged notable news publications in India such as The Indian Chronicle and Hindustan Times.

Overnight, our story catapulted into mainstream media and was featured on national broadcasters on Indian Television, and made headlines in The Times of India–the 9th most read newspaper in the world.

The feature in the Times of India triggered phase 2 of our PR strategy, and sparked conversations around the globe–even earning us a feature article in the coveted Creative Review. With the impact the program had, we were able to amplify our reach through digital and social publications, which resulted in an uplift in pencil sales and donations.

Our PR strategy had a massive impact across the country and the world, garnering over 241 million media impressions to date.

What's more, 2 billion cubic feet of air was cleaned in the first 2 months, enabling us to create 10,000 Pollution Pencils with the residue harvested.

Furthermore, our campaign has raised 4.5x the original investment received through pencil sales and donations.

As a result, 1500+ children are breathing cleaner air in Bengaluru. And 6,800+ more children in Delhi schools to benefit once the second batch of air purifiers is installed.

But most importantly, a long term commitment by the brand to keep this program running for years to come.