Primary grade students in rural schools still use black-slate and chalk sticks to write with. After frequently writing and wiping the slate with their bare hands, it is common for the chalk powder to get smeared all over their hands. So Savlon introduced Savlon Healthy Hands Chalk Sticks - special chalk sticks infused with soap. These could be used to write just like regular chalk sticks, but the chalk powder accumulated on kids' hands acted as cleansing soap when their hands came in contact with water. This simple innovation automatically turned washing hands with soap into an everyday habit without requiring any extra effort from children.

Under ‘Healthy India Mission’, in the first phase, rural schools on the outskirts of 20 cities across India were chosen on the basis of health reports of students. These special chalk sticks were then distributed directly to these schools, enabling more than 150,000 students to change their habits within 3 weeks of use.

Owing to a great response and demand from schools and NGOs across the country, distribution models were set in place for NGOs whose requirements exceeded over 50,000 boxes.

Once implemented in 100 schools, On Children's Day, this innovation was released as an online video resulting in widespread social media coverage. This led to a huge demand from general public for these special chalk sticks. For the second phase, a distribution model has been planned in collaboration with some of the largest NGOs in the country.

• This simple innovation has helped in Savlon’s re-launch in the country as a major player in the health & hygiene category.

• The world’s largest provider of mid-day meals in schools – ‘Akshaya Patra’ has approached us to distribute these chalk sticks and reach more than a million kids every day.

• 79 newspapers publicized this innovation.

• India’s No.1 Hindi news channel featured the story at prime-time.

• This simple idea sparked conversation about hand-washing with a reach of 5.1 million on Twitter and 4.3 million on Facebook in just the first 4 days.

• It reached 5,105,340 parents via parental blogs and micro-communities online.

• These chalk sticks have helped induce the habit of hand-washing with soap in more than 150,000 children so far, spanning 100 schools in India.

• This generated a large demand from schools and NGOs.

Kids do not use soap to wash hands. To change this habit in children, we approached and engaged with kids directly with a simple innovative product. With this, Savlon reached kids in over 100 schools and successfully helped induce the habit of everyday hand-washing in over 150,000 children. The innovation featured in over 79 local newspapers and leading TV news channels, which got more schools and large NGOs involved, finally resulting in a distribution plan reaching more than a million kids every day. This single promotion helped establish Savlon as a major player in the health & hygiene category.

Being a health & hygiene brand in India, Savlon’s primary task was to address one of the most critical issues prevalent in rural India – poor hand hygiene. Kids were at risk the most, so we decided to reach them, making them aware about good hand hygiene. We were aiming for a behavioral change, so our solution had to be uncomplicated, cost-effective and at the same time certified safe for children to adopt.

Millions of children across rural India still don't have the habit of washing hands with soap before eating. Because they believe washing hands with water is enough. Since children do not take up new habits easily, Savlon, a brand associated with health and hygiene, needed to come up with an idea to help inculcate the habit of using soap when washing hands. Under Savlon’s ongoing school outreach initiative - ‘Healthy India Mission’, the task was to come up with a simple, low-cost solution that could be easily implemented in rural schools across the country.