Pujo Campaigns garnished with artistic visuals and compelling stories

Paawan Sunam

09 Oct 2020 00:00 IST

Updated On 09 Oct 2020 06:42 IST

New Update

Durga Pujo Campaigns have marked the festive season each year with forthright narratives and enchanting visuals, here we go through a few of such eminent campaigns that have remained bold over the years.

Nationwide prominence, hefty shopping, increased gifting, and many more factors turn Pujo into a consumer-centric carnival. It is also the beginning of the festive season for brands. Pujo-themed or Durga Puja campaigns include several brand integrations that establish the brand's offerings relevant during the period, along with more kinds of commercialization.

Elements such as marginalization of communities, the celebration of womanhood, artisanal work, environment-friendly themes, folk culture, and more that are weaved with the festivity are also tapped by several brands.

Pujo also brings out fine storytelling as brands do not shy away from long-format campaigns, sometimes even over five minutes of length that touch upon several social or cultural expressions, scenarios around the revelry, and more.

Centuryply has been one of the most consistent brands in putting out Pujo campaigns with compelling narratives. Each year they revive their initiative, 'Heroes' first commenced in 2014, which extends prestige to the neglected ones, with carpenters at the core.

The 2019 campaign made us conscious of the Dhaki players, a significant part of the festival, but their plight is often overlooked. With an aspirational value of their and the carpenters' deathless spirit, the 2018 campaign was also on the lines of overcoming impediments.

Prayag India also hailed the artisans of our country, and SBI Life Insurance intended to revive a fading dance form from the folklore culture with a real story.

From the Durga sculpture to the embellished pandal, the ensemble donned by people, till the appetizing edibles, everything is a visual treat. Several brands such as Britannia and Swiggy paint the screen with vibrant colors and vivid patterns to bring out this element.

The Times Of India and its sub-brands have put out a few of the best Durga Puja campaigns of all time. Their narratives are also often imbibed in rituals and notions attached to the festival.

For instance, Phirey Esho Kolkata directed by Pritha Chakraborty, with the production house Flying Leaves Films, and music by Prabuddha Banerjee, builds on the notion that Maa Durga is also a daughter, a daughter who comes to Baaper Bari (parents’ home) and is represented quintessentially by the ‘Daughters’ in the family.

The campaign calls the daughters home who have moved out of their homes to pursue education, a professional career or for any other reasons. The brand claimed that as a response to the campaign, 5000 letters were written by the city’s residents asking their daughters, sisters, sisters-in-law, aunts to come back home for Pujo.

Sindoor Khela - #NoConditionsApply is one of the most prominent campaigns by The Times Of India. Sindoor Khela is a traditional ritual where married women apply sindoor on Maa Durga’s forehead and the women around them on the final day of Durga Puja which is Vijay Dashami.

The insight was to question ourselves on why do we apply these conditions, that only married women can play a part in this ritual when Maa Durga herself doesn't differentiate between married, unmarried, divorced, or transgender women; a woman working in an office or a brothel are both equal for her.

Conceptualized by FCB Ulka, the campaign is also a dig at the stereotypical labels that are slapped on women, based on their marital status or profession.

It is also inscribed with a tradition in Kolkata, a custom to include soil samples from areas believed to be nishiddho pallis (territories inhabited by social outcasts such as brothels) in the clay mixture for Durga's Sculptures.

More brands convey the elements of this high spirited fest with creative campaigns.