MISSION:

Otrivin Nasal Health is on a mission to help every child breathe better. Since 2021, our worldwide ‘Actions to Breathe Cleaner’ campaign has launched a series of initiatives to mitigate the impact air pollution has on children.

SITUATION:

We know breathing bad air can cause fatigue, poor concentration, asthmatic flare-ups, illness, and absenteeism. And students in India’s low income schools spend up to 8 hours a day in classrooms where the polluted air can exceed WHO limits by 4x or more.

OBJECTIVE

For our India chapter, we wanted to make classrooms in low-income schools a healthier and safer space, because we believed breathing cleaner air could inspire its students to design a better future.

As part of its mission to help every child breathe better, Otrivin Nasal Health decided to turn air pollution in low-income schools into something positive: Pollution Pencils!

Made with toxic particles harvested from purifiers installed in schools, child-safe Pollution Pencils were made as part of the pilot project.

Students received these child-safe pencils in unique packaging that represented their schools as a happier and more hopeful place, while also teaching them about the impact of air pollution.

We also used the pencils as a fundraising tool, allowing people to purchase them as well as to donate to the cause. This helped create a self-sustaining ecosystem for change, one that funds and supplies more air purifiers to schools across India.

With no media budget, we needed to grab the attention of the public, and mainstream media so our program could become part of the news cycle and get the reach it deserved.

We targeted:

- Affluent Indian parents and the general public: to educate them about air pollution in schools, and urge them to donate to the cause.

- Corporations and governments: to change the on-ground impact of air pollution on children.

- Influencers: to raise awareness about our mission; with mainstream media playing an important role to create awareness about our program.

Our strategy:

We used Pollution Pencils as an educational tool for students, and a fundraising tool for the public. Because the more awareness we created, the more money we raised, the more air purifiers we could place in schools, the more residue we could harvest, and the more pencils we could make and sell.

Pollution Pencils kicked off in July 2022 in Bengaluru – India’s asthma capital.

We partnered with an award-winning clean air start-up in Bengaluru to:

a) Identify schools with the poorest air quality: As there was no publicly available data, we measured the air quality in all schools in the city. 3 low-income schools in the industrial areas of Hegganahalli, Peenya, and Mallasandra were selected.

b) Create and install customised air purifiers: Self-cleaning, sustainable, and energy-efficient air purifiers were made.

c) Harvest the residue: In the first 2 months alone, 2 BILLION cubic feet of air was cleaned and the residue was harvested.

10,000 child-safe Pollution Pencils were made at a local pencil factory which combined the residue with graphite.

These were distributed to students and also used to raise funds.

1500+ children are breathing cleaner in Bengaluru today.

6800+ children in Delhi schools will soon benefit from our phase two.

2 billion cubic feet of air was cleaned in the first 2 months.

10,000 Pollution Pencils made with the residue harvested.

4.5x the original investment received through pencil sales and donations.

1500+ children are breathing cleaner air in Bengaluru. And 6,800+ children in Delhi schools to benefit once the second batch of air purifiers are installed.

241 million media impressions to date.

A long term commitment by the brand to keep this program running for years to come.