Entertainment Lions For Music > Music Content

TIMES SPARK : A SALAAM TO KALAM

J. WALTER THOMPSON INDIA, New Delhi / TIMES OF INDIA GROUP / 2018

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Overview

Credits

OVERVIEW

CampaignDescription

Inspire and Ignite the reading habit :

A short film on the reading habit of a newspaper boy who became the President of India.

A musical narrative that delivered a dream of flying a fighter plane, to inspire a billion.

A true story told through a timeline of Times Of India newspapers from 1941 to 2017, building emotional milestones from newspaper headlines into the lyrics and integrating the brand into the narrative through seamless storytelling.

The musical narrative in the ancient Indian form of storytelling through song is set to an emotional rythm. A historic form that is used in street theatre to move audiences to tears and inspire them to action. A powerful form of inspiration to ignite the newspaper reading habit among digital natives.

Execution

An inspirational story told through a historic timeline of Times Of India newspapers, building emotional milestones from newspaper headlines into the lyrics and integrating the brand into the narrative through seamless storytelling.

A newspaper boy reads a news report on WWII fighter planes and cuts it out to make a newspaper rocket and that became his life’s purpose, to fly a fighter plane but he fails the air force pilot entrance test. His reading habit helped him overcome failure and come back to become a rocket scientist on auto pilot, flying missiles and satellites and rising to the highest office in the country. A true story to ignite the reading habit in a billion students.

The emotional lyrics of Madan Karky and folk singer Antony Dasan feature in the original Tamil language, with classical folk violins by Karthik Iyer and music by Madley Blues.

Subtitles in English.

Outcome

The music video and short film have over 2 million views online and over 10 million viewers on national television with the music topping the charts on all South Indian music channels.

The musical narrative helped highlight the importance of the reading habit in millions of students. Over 200,000 students applied for the Times Spark scholarships by reading the Times newspaper everyday. The powerful lyrics of Madan Karky and the moving vocals of folk singer Antony Dasan feature in the original tamil language but subtitles deliver the moral of the story in English. The film is being rendered in all 25 different Indian languages with cinema and news trailers to reach and inspire students in their mother tongues, in the farthest corners of the sub continent.

Relevancy

Education through Entertainment is proven as the most memorable form out there.

A Salaam To Kalam is a musical narrative that delivered a 65 year old dream of flying a fighter plane, to inspire a billion. A true story told through a historic timeline of Times Of India newspapers, integrating the brand into the narrative with seamless storytelling.

A short film on the reading habit of a newspaper boy who became the President of India.

The work features a musical narrative in the ancient Indian art of storytelling through song and set to an emotional rythm that inspires action.

Strategy

Ignite the reading habit among digital natives :

Education through Entertainment is proven as the most memorable form of teaching out there.

A Salaam To Kalam is a musical narrative that delivers a 65 year old dream of flying a fighter plane, to inspire a billion. A true story told through a timeline of Times Of India newspapers from 1941 to 2017, integrating the newspaper brand into the narrative like never before.

A strategic narrative that should motivate and inspire a billion students to choose the reading habit for life. The strategic objective was to increase readership of The Times Of India among digital natives. And highlight the newspaper as the instrument of change, inviting students to sign up for the Times Spark Scholarship programme with entrance test based on newspaper articles and news stories.

Synopsis

The Situation :

Reading Newspapers is not a millennial habit.

Less than 3 % of young Indians ( digital natives ) read the daily newspapers.

Over 3 million students in English medium schools have read a newspaper.

The Opportunity :

Today's digital natives are tomorrow's readers of The Times Of India.

The Action :

Shift Focus from the bottom line to the headline.

Stop selling a newspaper and start selling the reading habit.

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