World AIDS Day
Client: MTV India

The poor cursor gets protected and its user gets aware of the importance of condoms. What else can one ask for on the occasion of World’s AIDS Day?

Synopsis:
Promoting the cause of AIDS on the web is no easy task. AIDS has emerged as one of the biggest killer worldwide. A fact that perhaps every Tom Dick and Hari is aware of. In spite of that the use of condoms is pitiably low in India. A fact we wanted to change.
What was common between AIDS and the web is protection. Web users are always cautious and require assurance that a site is ‘protected’ before they enter it. This triggered a sudden thought in our minds. What would happen if websites refused entry into their pages without a condom? The answer was that thousands of surfers would get protected and talk about protection.
So on the occasion of World AIDS Day we designed a banner for MTV India that appeared before site launched. The banner asked users to choose a condom for their cursor. They were given a wide choice of condoms and 10 seconds of time. If they could not make a choice by then, the cursor was given a default condom to ‘wear’. The message was clear. No condom. No entry.

Response:
The promo definitely created a buzz around cyber town. There were postings on blogs, networking sites were scrapping about it, links were forwarded and by the end of day we had close 50,000 people getting protected online

UPDATED POST
June 16th, 2007 10:12 PM

Tribal DDB India has over the last two years been extremely salient at the awards – winner at AAAI and Abby in India, the Asia Pacific Ad Fest, and finalist status at the One Show and at Cannes and also a two-time winner at the Webbys.

It was a proud moment for Tribal DDB India when the team opened at the Cannes Lions International Advertising Festival 2007 for the Cannes Lions Daily to find their name as the only one from India in the Cyber Shortlist’s.

The entry is titled ‘Protected Entry’ in the category Charity, Public Health & Safety, Public Awareness.

“We had a few, well-chosen entries this year, but we knew had some strong contenders among them. This one for MTV particularly startles with the sheer simplicity of the idea,” says Leroy Alvares, Country Head, Tribal DDB India.

“Every shortlist reaffirms our belief that our grooming of our young talent to strive for global standards is working and is well on track. As a jury member at the One Show and the Clio’s this year, I could see that we had work of high international quality,” adds Meera Sharath Chandra, National Creative Director, Mudra Marketing Services (of which Tribal DDB India is an important SBU).

“This entry has already proved itself as a finalist at the One Show and as a People’s Choice Award winner at the Webbys. We knew we were in with a very good chance,” says R Lakshminarayanan, CEO Mudra Marketing Services.