Project: Partnering OFFER for HIV awareness during India’s first pink ball test

Brief: OFFER (Organisation For Friends Energies & Resources) Anandaghar an NGO, based out of Kolkata, leads a unique initiative called Café Positive, which is run by HIV positive youth and is one of a kind in Asia. With India playing its first pink ball test match at Eden gardens on 22nd November 2019, it was a great opportunity to create awareness about the OFFER’s rehabilitation programme for HIV affected youngsters.

The need was to create branded touchpoints at the stadium premises that will garner awareness and interest for the onlookers who had come to watch the test match.

Challenges: With extremely tight deadlines looming over head and limited budget, the challenge was to create impactful communication, identify touchpoints that had high visibility at minimal costs, and on-time execution.

Methodology: The key idea was to create a connection with the audience who came to watch the match solely from entertainment purpose only. We had planned to set up a stall at the venue and connecting this with the theme of cricket.
“A café without boundaries”
Once we had the messaging down, the next steps were to quickly look at design and fabrication. We were able to pull this off because of our partners, who graciously agreed to collaborate with us on this good cause despite many challenges that were present at the time.

Campaign Elements: At Eden Gardens Stadium a strategic place was identified to set up the pop-up counter, which was then designed and fabricated. We also designed and got printed t-shirt with the OFFER Anandaghar branding done on it.

Campaign Reception: The efforts of selection of the platforms, the communication and means through which branding was done was able to draw considerable eyeballs and attention both onground during the match and also via the live telecast across the TV channels.

There was significant footfall at the pop-up counter at the stadium. Former Indian Team Captain & BCCI president Sourav Ganguly and CAB (Cricket Association of Bengal) secretary Abhishek Dalmiya were amongst the notable personals who stepped in for a cup of tea at the pop-up counter.

What we felt about this project:
There was something exciting and significant in doing this project. While the element of being part of something so historic and memorable was an absolute thrill for our team, the sense of actually making an impact through our efforts was immensely satisfying.