It's funny how some of the best weekly articles surface in the Sunday TOI - a newspaper brand which I love to hate. Some of the write-ups on insights, cultural shifts, trends are good Sunday-reading-for-planner-types!Came across this nice write-up on Pashupati Nath singh - a story about one man's efforts to mould under-privileged children into self-reliant beings.
65 year old Singh, runs the Patuck High School, tucked away behind rows of road-side shops and a well-kept garden at Vakola(Mumbai). Singh's students are largely under-nourished, under-privileged slum children often with severe learning disabilities. The courses here go beyond bookish knowledge and very often are centred on giving them confidence.
Pashupati Nath Singh, is a former director of Voltas. His 'Leaders of Tomorrow Project', aimed at bright children from Mumbai's slums is immensely popular among the slum/ street children near the airport, Mahim, Malvani, Dadar and Bandra.
Apart from reaching out to 3000 students in 26 schools in the city, Singh also annually adopts 32 poor meritorious students from the ninth grade for his India Scholar Award, a scholarship that ensures that these students are groomed by Singh and his academic partners till they graduate.
If interested, you can dig into the complete write-up in Sunday TOI(Dec 17). Meraj - you stay closest to Singh's school. Maybe, you can dig up the details if you wish...
I think if we can convince some of our clients to dole our money or to adopt the school, it would be a really great 360 project! Somebody like Bournvita(?)
I plan to compile such inspiring( relatively unknown) citizen brands. With the huge disparity between the classes, urban-rural divide, pg 1 and pg 4-6 lives,the only way India can truly shine is by supporting such grass-root citizen activism...And all of us can do our little bit. Any volunteers? Lets talk...
I strongly feel Planners need to be sensitive - not just to the tracking figures of cola/car/ cosmetic brands but also to the societal changes all around us! Often our lens is too focussed, our vision too narrow, our thinking too self-obsessed...Blue sky thinking -->Real 360 brand thinking should be about enveloping the consumers/ people at the fringe, bettering their lives. Cause branding has to be a big part in the new marketing/ 360game...
6 comments:
I was advocating this for such a long time. Doing some similar work on tracking Citizen Activism down south and trying to get my clients to own-up a good cause as part of their marketing initiative.
share stories roop...Its such a satisfying job! Tracking these Citizen brands...
In fact, if I get some funding, my dream is to start an agency which is devoted to largely social communication.
Social communication not as a platform for year end scamy work but drive some ground-level change...With the new technology at our disposal, we can do so much!
Inertia and lack of imagination is the only thing that stops us all.
I feel creatively inclined planners should actively freelance such projects!
When it comes to 'giving back' we largely restrict ourselves to being 'gyan dispensers' LOL
Post your Citizen Brands examples Roop...Wud love to read them.
We have recently associated with a NGO (a rehab center for poor, malnourished children of workers/slum dwellers) from Hubli with one of our foods clients. Our client is providing mid-day meal to this kids with the help of the NGO. The program has entered its 3rd month and doing quiet well. Being in the food category, we really felt that this initiative will not only help those unprivileged kids but give us mileage to gain popularity in a relatively small market.
(Cannot share the name of my client or the NGO or any other specific details).
I think it's important to find a client who can understand the benefit of sponsoring such social causes. That's like half the battle won.
true Kapil...I also feel we could look at long term partnerships with many NGOs like Roop talked.Both at an organisational as well as individual level.
thanks for the info Manish...will surely check out this place over the long weekend.
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