DDB Mudra West India helps to spread awareness about Daan Utsav with a pro bono campaign

Launched in 2009, Daan Utsav (or The Joy Of Giving Week as it was originally called) is India’s annual ‘festival of giving’. Celebrated every year, in the week including Gandhi Jayanti (October 2-8 this year), it brings together Indians of all stripes, to celebrate ‘giving’. It is an open platform encouraging everyone in India to give back to society in a meaningful way. An act of giving can be anything – a small donation to a charity you know, a gift for someone less fortunate, a donated meal or a couple of hours spent volunteering for a cause.

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This year, DDB Mudra Group did its share towards Daan Utsav by ‘giving’ it’s time and talent pro bono and helping in increasing awareness about it. The agency created two lovely little inspiring stories for free in order to drive home the point that Daan Utsav is about the act of giving, irrespective of the amount or nature of the ‘giving’.

The campaign comprising of two TVCs intended to reinforce the ‘joy of giving’, which baselines this event. The objective was to help Daan Utsav grow into a bigger, better and more inclusive initiative by inspiring Indians from all walks of life to give anything – time, money, effort or gestures and to relish the joy of giving. This thought gave birth to the idea- Kuchh bhi do, dil se do. (Whatever you give, give with all your heart.)

The idea intended to make ‘gestures’ and not money as a focal point of giving, and hence democratize the space of giving. By focusing on small gestures of kindness, the agency flipped the conventional concept of giver and taker and drove home the point that it is the spirit and not the amount that matters. They tried to establish the thought that it’s not about who you are or what you give, it’s about the joy of giving.

The two films were not asking for charity. Nor were they aimed at guilt-tripping the viewer into doing something for a good cause. They were simple, heart-warming stories that inspire one to give without being preachy.

DDB Mudra West along with the Production House Like-Minded People came together to make these films pro bono. The entire process of creating and producing these films was born out of the very spirit that the films themselves espouse – the spirit of giving. The result is a goodwill project created by following the very philosophy that Daan Utsav works on – the joy of giving.

Quoting on the campaign, Sonal Dabral, Chairman and CCO, DDB Mudra Group said, “When one works on any social service message, it’s easy to fall prey to using exaggerated sentimentality and make the viewer feel morally burdened. We wanted to keep away from that. There is a certain simplicity of thought to the Daan Utsav initiative. The attempt was to capture this simplicity by keeping the stories simple and making simple ‘gestures’ convey the joy of giving. I sincerely hope that these two little everyday stories for Daan Utsav will inspire people to give with all their heart and the spirit of giving will continue well beyond the ‘Joy of Giving’ week.”

Rama Arya, Daan Utsav Volunteer said, “This is the celebration of one of the most basic characteristics of human life- giving, and builds on the premise that giving gives equal joy to the giver as it does to the receiver. We approached DDB Mudra West for one simple reason. I don’t think anyone else, but Sonal, could do justice in translating the underlying principle of Daan Utsav into the film medium He is a fantastic storyteller and a natural giver. Giving is blatant in his DNA. To top it, Sonal’s team at DDB Mudra complement him perfectly. The two films they created for the festival gave us goose bumps even at script stage. The end products are marvelous to say the least: simple, inspiring and humane. But then we did not expect anything less from him and his team.”

Quoting on being a part of the initiative, Piyush Raghani from Like-minded People said, “I’m glad it worked out. Thank you for the opportunity.”

Credits:

Special Thanks: Ratna Nidhi Charitable Trust