Balwadi Night School: Street To School

Credits:

Type of Entry: Environmental Design
Category: Environmental Design: Semi-Permanent
Title: STREET TO SCHOOL
Advertiser/Client: MAHARASHTRA JANAVIKAS KENDRA
Product/Service: BALWADI NIGHT SCHOOL
Entrant Company: JWT INDIA Mumbai, INDIA
Design/Advertising Agency: JWT INDIA Mumbai, INDIA
Creative Credits
Name Company Position
Tista Sen Jwt India Executive Creative Director
Kainaz Karmakar Jwt India Sr. Creative Director
Harshad Rajadhyaksha Jwt India Sr. Creative Director
Kainaz Karmakar Jwt India Copywriter
Eshani Kumbhani Jwt India Art Director
Kaushal Thakkar Jwt India Senior Audio-Visual Manager
Rohit Redkar Jwt India Photographer
Nilesh Naik Jwt India Designer
Deepak Jadhav Jwt India Illustrator
Details
Brief Explanation:
The challenge was to catch the attention of one of the busiest cities in the world, not only make the people aware of this project happening in one corner of the city, but to reach out to their hearts and their wallets in order to continue this project.
Describe the brief from the client:
Balwadi Night School, an initiative to teach child labourers living on the streets of Mumbai, was about to shut down due to lack of funds. Its noble intentions and its honest efforts were falling short as very few were aware of this school and those who were aware were not capable to help. The client’s brief to the agency was to find a way to convince the ‘haves’ of the city to contribute towards the education of the ‘have nots’.
Description of how you arrived at the final design:
Since the appeal was for a Night School for street children, the design involved 12 nights, 35 streets, and a simple everyday school book brought to life like never before. It’s what we like to call a Live A-Z Picture Book. For an entire month, we scouted the city from end and end for the best locations. This live picture book was projected at these locations, everyday at nightfall. Every alphabet slide was projected at a different spot and the picture corresponding to each alphabet was replaced by a real street object of Mumbai.
Indication of how successful the outcome was in the market:
People on the streets stopped to see the live picture book but their response didn’t stop there. Stationery, money, volunteers, donations poured in, in many forms. The campaign was executed for under Rs 1,00,000, (USD 2000 approx) and all we needed was a meagre sum of Rs 600 (USD 12) annually, to fund 1 student's schooling. Mumbai was moved and it showed in the fact that within one month of the campaign, the Night School re-opened with not 50, not 100, but 150 students saying ‘good evening teacher’. And since then the school receives enough funding to enrol at least 100 new students every month.