Cannes Contenders 2017: Lodestar UM - IPG Mediabrands

As we near the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity, Campaign India continues with its 'Cannes Contender' series.

 

The premise is:

 

Lodestar UM - IPG Mediabrands has one such contender.

 

Door Step School -  A Street Naming Ceremony for Social Change

 

 

Door Step School is on a mission to address flagging literacy levels amongst the most marginalised sections of society. Kids growing up in the slums of Mumbai often look up to criminals as role models. Naturally, school doesn’t become a priority for these kids – we needed to increase school admissions and reaffirm the importance of education in their lives.

 

 Slums in India have a maze of narrow, crisscrossing streets. And none of them have names! We decided to name these streets, in a very inspiring and motivational way. By recognizing high-achieving kids at the local school, we could make them heroes and role models in the eyes of classmates and parents alike.

 

 Imagine having a street named after you when you are only 12 years old! Especially when you know that in India only famous, learned people like Mahatma Gandhi, Swami Vivekananda and Doctor Radhakrishna have streets named after them. To take this idea to the next level we created an entire ‘street-naming event’. We put together huge inauguration ceremonies with special guests, local celebrities, parents and children attending. The local MLA, the school teachers, the government officials of the education department, all attended to facilitate and make the child the hero. This had a lasting impact, ensuring all kids aspired to great heights in education in order to achieve great heights on the streets!

 

 Although this event was run over several days in 3 different slums across Mumbai, the ground work started much earlier. The teachers of Door Step School sat together and identified the best academic performers. Another team identified the streets that would be named. Metal road signs were commissioned and permissions were sought from community leaders. The date was fixed and the entire slum community was given advance invitations to the event.

 

To loud cheers the roads were ‘named’, speeches were made and kids were inspired to stay in school and excel. We broadcast this across all major social platforms, which, combined with the tremendous coverage we received through community news outlets, meant these high-achieving kids were recognised throughout the land! The schools got a record 1,213 new enrolments, a 38 per cent increase.

 

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