Situation: The Kumbh Mela is the largest human gathering on Earth, receiving a footfall of

over 150 million pilgrims. Littering poses a huge problem in such events, as people in India don't dispose garbage in dustbins. This threatens the risk of disease and epidemic.

Brief: Unilever India has pledged its support to the cause of sustainability and has taken substantial steps towards decreasing its carbon footprint. Red Label Tea which has been a part of the Indian fabric for decades and spoken of Togetherness, wanted to contribute to the Kumbh Mela in a manner that brings a change in human behavior, makes an actual difference on-ground and spreads the message to intended audience.

Objectives: To make a positive difference towards the environment, to amplify the message to bring a behavioural realisation and to generate goodwill for the brand, thus leaving its stamp on the Kumbh Mela.

To encourage 150 million pilgrims to not litter and dispose garbage in designated dustbins, we got them excited about garbage in the most unexpected way. In the biting cold of the event, we rewarded people with a warm cup of tea in exchange for garbage.

We set up special tea dispensing units that doubled up as dustbins across the Kumbh Mela. These had unique built-in sensors that dispensed tea every time someone disposed garbage in them. Thus, incentivising pilgrims to beat the cold of Kumbh and to keep surroundings clean.

Insight:

To come up with an idea that makes a genuine impact on the environment and on the event of Kumbh Mela, which would by itself become the testament that spreads the word and gets spoken about organically.

Key Message: To keep the event clean, litter-free and epidemic-free, one tea cup at a time.

Target Audience: 150+ million pilgrims from the heartland of India. Most Indians are in the habit of littering instead of disposing garbage in dustbins, unaware of the diseases and epidemic that might result from this at an event of such a scale.

We got the the Mayor of the city and seers to inaugurate these machines which helped garner a lot of organic PR across platforms. The machines were placed at strategically important points, for maximum reach to pilgrims and exposure to press, thus becoming a photo-op for politicians and pilgrims.

The activity was executed at the Kumbh Mela- the largest human gathering on earth, where 150+ million pilgrims live and gather on the banks of the holy Ganges, in the cold of winter.

The Red Label 'Tea for Trash' vending machines were inaugurated by the Mayor of Prayagraj city and important religious seers with a following. This helped spread the word organically through whatsapp forwards and social media. This was then picked up TV news, radio and local news publications, putting out the word.

The machines were placed at various strategically important points, for maximum press and pilgrim exposure such as the banks of the holy Ganges river, congregation point for the holy dip; in blocks where pilgrims reside; around various food courts as well as in camps where seers reside and are visited by pilgrims.

The activity ran from 14th Jan, 2019-14th Feb 2019.

The free tea through the vending machines got pilgrims excited about disposing garbage in dustbin section of the machine. From throwing litter around, pilgrims were found scouting for garbage to avail the free tea.

The Red Label 'Tea for Trash' vending machines collected 93 tonnes of garbage. The activity was exposed to over 3 million people.

The activation, through enormous word of mouth, got organically covered by local and national media, reaching 47 million people. It even became a photo-op for politicians and pilgrims.