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Savlon’s Soap Chalk: When Classrooms Became the Cleverest Handwashing Campaign

Have you ever eaten lunch in school without washing your hands. (Yeah…) Now imagine this: Millions of kids in rural India doing exactly that, not because they didn’t care, but because handwashing with soap wasn’t a habit. Sometimes, there wasn’t even soap around. Savlon and Ogilvy looked at this messy, germy reality and thought: What if hygiene didn’t feel like hygiene at all? And that’s where the world’s smartest piece of chalk was born. The Problem: Hygiene Isn’t “Taught” Easily Public health campaigns often sound the same: Posters on walls (“Wash your hands!”). Lectures from teachers. TV ads running between cartoons. But here’s the thing, lecturing rarely changes behavior. Especially with children. Habits form through fun, play, and repetition. So, the challenge was this: How do you make handwashing an automatic part of a child’s school day without nagging? The Idea: Soap + Chalk = Magic Enter Ogilvy Mumbai with an idea so simple, it could’ve been cooked up in a school science lab...
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What If You Had to Choose Which Child Lives?

T he Cancer Campaign That Hits You Right in the Gut — And Then Moves You to Act Imagine this. Two children. Both fighting cancer. Both need a place to stay to complete their treatment. But there’s only one bed left. You’re asked to choose: Deepa or Sunil ? Now pause. Feel that. That knot in your stomach? That uncomfortable tension? That’s exactly what Ogilvy wanted you to feel. Welcome to “ The Impossible Choice ,” a gut-wrenching campaign created for St. Jude India Childcare Centres — an NGO that provides free-of-cost accommodation and holistic care to families of children battling cancer. The Ad That Makes You the Villain (And Then the Hero) The ad opens innocently enough — two adorable kids, smiling. You're told both are undergoing treatment. Then comes the twist: only one bed is available. You have to pick who stays and who goes. There’s a QR code. Scanning it lets you donate so both can stay. You’re offered a way out. A way to not play God. It’s brilliant. ...

Hello, Sweden Speaking: The Genius Behind “The Swedish Number” Campaign

Imagine this. You're lounging at home, aimlessly scrolling through your phone, coffee gone cold, thumb twitching on autopilot. Suddenly, you see this: +46 771 793 336 No caption. No context. Just a line that says: “Call this number and talk to a random Swede.” Uhhh… what? Wait — Is This a Joke? A Scam? A Glitch in the Matrix? Nope. It was real. And it was one of the boldest, most delightfully absurd marketing campaigns ever run—not by a brand, but by a nation . In 2016, Sweden became the first country in the world to launch its own phone number. A real, working phone number. Anyone from anywhere could dial in and be connected to a random Swedish citizen — not a call center, not a government spokesperson, not a PR-trained tourism officer. Just… a Swede. Chosen by chance. Willing to talk. No script. No agenda. No filter. And the best part? You could talk about anything . The weather (probably cold). IKEA and those meatballs. The mystery of Midsummer. Why ...

A Diamond Is Forever : The Line That Sold a Lifetime

In 1947, an ad copywriter named Frances Gerety scribbled a line late at night that would go on to shape weddings, movies, proposals and awkward ring-size guesses for generations to come: “A Diamond Is Forever” Four words. Zero discounts. Infinite impact. Let’s break down why this might be the most emotionally manipulative (in a brilliant way) marketing campaign of all time and what it teaches us about selling without shouting. The Problem: Diamonds Weren’t Forever… Or Even Necessary In the early 20th century, diamonds weren’t the symbol of love. They were… shiny rocks. Expensive ones. And often passed down. After the Great Depression, De Beers had a massive problem: Too many diamonds. Too little demand. A product people didn’t really need. So, they did something radical. They stopped selling diamonds . And started selling meaning . The Shift: From Rock to Ritual Instead of shouting “50% off carats!” or “Get her the biggest one!”, De Beers pivoted. They didn’t market the stone. The...