Nat Geo pushes water agenda with four short films
The films, exclusively created for the channel by Imtiaz Ali, Hansal Mehta, Aniruddha Roy Chowdhury, and Madhur Bhandarkar, will premiere on the campaign website and Hotstar today.
In line with the brand’s objective to lead with purpose and help sustain the planet, the initiative was announced in Mumbai to mark the occasion of Earth Day.
In addition to the main campaign (featuring Akhtar) which will run across media, National Geographic will also disseminate the message through various formats of storytelling to reach and appeal to as many people as possible.
This includes special documentaries on the water issue; both global and local, as well as exclusively created short films by award winning directors Imtiaz Ali (Paani Panchayat), Hansal Mehta (Paanipath), Aniruddha Roy Chowdhury (Baiju Bulli) and Madhur Bhandarkar (Ek Baalti Paani).
Speaking on the campaign, Swati Mohan, business head, India, National Geographic and FOX Networks Group says, "National Geographic has always been a brand that has stood for driving purposeful change; something we have been doing for over a century now.
Mohan informs that there will be a month of television programming on the water crisis in India and around the world starting May 12.
The dedicated microsite for Mission Blue also has specially created digital tools that will help people get a sense of how severe the water problem is, and what they can do to tackle it.
As the next logical step to knowing one’s water footprint, the website urges people to reduce it in various ways and amounts through a ‘Pledge’ tool.
National Geographic Channel India was launched in July 1998.
The channel is currently distributed to 55 million subscribers in India and reaches to 139 million viewers every month in India on an average.