In 2022, The Times of India, India’s leading English newspaper, took on the responsibility of infusing readers with a degree of optimism, to break out of the despondency created by the pandemic. Importantly, there has always been a question of whether India will succeed or not, whether our economy will move ahead, and whether the country to realize its potential. TOI’s reply came in India’s 75th year of Independence – proving that Humanity always marches on.

Our initiative showcased the immense progress the country has made, with each decade building on the success of the previous one. While we have covered hundreds of individual success stories over time, this was the first concerted effort to showcase the bigger ecosystem behind an Unstoppable India – the building blocks that have contributed to Indian success – from the education system to the technology spine behind cashless payments, to many more.

TOABI was a like a large fabric with a collage of many initiatives.

1. 35 stories showcasing India’s astonishing success.

2. Inspirational video emphasizing that Right Now was the best time to be Indian.

3. Clutter-breaking print advertising with youth appeal - the ‘Imagine’ creative spoke of a nation that had made its greatest dreams come true; the irreverent approach of ‘Not in your footsteps’ spoke of breaking fresh ground and ‘What’s up, obstacles’ was a bold message by an unstoppable nation ready to overcome any challenge.

4. A timeline of India’s progress from 1947 capturing its transformation.

5. Over 30 video stories on digital platforms using sourced footage, rare photographs, and animation.

6. Testimonial videos from eminent Indians who symbolize national success.

7. Contest using picture symbols of Indian success, asking readers to identify the bigger story behind each brought the initiative alive and created an engagement platform.

With the target audience being young readers, while the communication of the ideas was rooted in print, the reader engagement was platform agnostic with digital media being fully leveraged to drive awareness to users who draw most of their information from their mobile devices.

1. Print advertising: The ads were released in The Times of India main paper, its city-centric supplements with youth-centric content, in owned publications in various regional languages other than English, and also in the country’s leading business daily, which is widely read in B-schools.

2. The Big Picture Contest: The contest pointers, which acted as picture-driven visual clues to the contest, were released in The Times of India newspaper. Readers were asked to participate in the contest on the programme website.

Print ads and contest picture clues were also promoted on digital platforms across social media and on relevant websites.

Print ad messaging:

‘Imagine’ summarized India’s achievements across areas – from food deficit to food exporter; from bullock carts to space satellites, underlining the aspect that no dream is now out of reach for an Indian.

‘Not in your footsteps’ was irreverent, and spoke that in the India of today, young people could find success even in unconventional careers.

‘What’s up, obstacles’ was a bold message by an unstoppable nation ready to overcome any challenge.

Print ad format: Rather than rely on a traditional form horizontal half-page creative, the first two insertions were vertical half-pages with editorial content comprising the other half, ensuring the ads became unmissable.

Big Picture Contest: A picture clue involving an Indian success story appeared in the newspaper daily. Readers answered online, where the ‘bigger picture’ of the success story with background was revealed next day. A leaderboard with cumulative prizes ensured stickiness and repeat visits.

The programme received an overall digital reach of 369 million and within that, its polarity scores stood at 41.6 % positive, 58.1% neutral. A negative polarity of below 1% for a newspaper programme talking about a nation’s achievements – in these polarizing times – is exceptional.

Print ads: Won wide applause online and were shared by numerous members of the desired young audience on their social platforms. In many cases, the inspiring text of the ads was quoted verbatim.

Big Picture Contest: Became the most valued active engagement platform for the initiative, with:

• Earned media results: 220,000 entries in The Big Picture contest.

• Time spent with the brand: The explanations for the picture clues (revealed a day later) saw time spent on the website increase from 15 secs/user to 36 secs/user.

• Consumer loyalty: Average repeat participation per user was 7.