AMAN KI ASHA – A Hope for Peace

Background

The first anniversary of the horrific 26/11 terror attacks in Mumbai saw India-Pakistan hatred at its peak. Incited by jingoistic calls for war from fundamentalists on both sides, the two nuclear powers were seething on the brink of a catastrophic confrontation.

The challenge was to try to dilute the terror agenda of vested interests by giving the power of the people a voice louder than the compulsions of the state. And to do this in a country a billion-strong that was grieving over one of the most heinous terror attacks in history.

Idea

Appealing to its readership and beyond them to all Indians, Times of India established Aman ki Asha (The Hope for Peace), a cross-border, people-to-people initiative that draws upon a common heritage of music, literature, food and culture shared by one great civilization before it was carved into two hostile nations on August 14th 1947.

Launched with the most courageous headline in the history of the world’s largest democracy on the entire front page of the world’s most widely-read English newspaper - LOVE PAKISTAN - Aman ki Asha (The Hope for Peace) would become the brave, unflinching face of human goodness against all the odds. It was a rallying call for friendship between people and peoples and a platform for one of the most audacious peace movements in the modern world.

Results

• Music & Screen icons on both sides joining the cause
• Massive editorial and media PR worth over US$ 2.5 million
• Commended in parliaments by governments around the world
• Cross-border business and trade conventions attended by the Finance Minister and industry leaders
• Over 40 user-generated videos
• More than 150 blogs and over 15,000 dialogues
• 5 large Facebook communities
• 12 huge cross-border music festivals
• 4 packed cross-border poetry and literature festivals
• Renewal of dialogue between both governments

Our Thoughts

Agnello Dias and Santosh Padhi were behind Lead India, which won a Grand Prix at Cannes, and Teach India, which should have done. Their bravura in seeing the opportunities for brands to effect social change is more than admirable, it is inspirational. As the creative partners to businesses, agencies have a role in helping them become ethical and understand their responsibilities. For a lot of marketers, this means piggy-backing onto a worthy cause and hoping some of those caring-sharing values rub off. The Times of India, though, has gone beyond cause-related marketing and into full crusade mode (if they will forgive the word) using marketing techniques to change institutionalised behaviour patterns. This is not unambitious.

In truth, it is Taproot who are the agents of change – thinking big and persuading their client to go with them.