MUMBAI, INDIA – After 10 weeks of strict lockdown, many cities have finally been allowed to partially open. However, over the last few days, people seem to be taking the threat of COVID-19 lightly, almost as if the end of the lockdown meant an end to the virus.
Looking at the given situation, Free Press Journal decided to issue an unmissable warning to its readers. Using the entire newspaper as a canvas for this idea, FPJ literally cancelled out words like Corona, COVID-19, pandemic, quarantine, lockdown, death, etc. across all 16 pages of its 10th June edition. Using a red stroke to strike off such these words in black, they made sure that the warning is noticed in just one glance. Having caught the attention of the reader, they have stressed upon the fact that our collective fight against COVID-19 will be successful only when we cancel out each and every COVID-19 case from India. Taproot Dentsu conceptualized this idea.
“We began extensively covering COVID crisis through the e-paper when the physical paper could not be delivered. Now that physical copies are welcomed back in homes, we felt it was important for us to reconnect with our readers by not just providing information but also making sure it impacts their behaviour positively. We believed the idea will be received well, and even though it seemed simple enough, it was a challenge to pull it off in real time on the printing press table,” said Abhishek Karnani, director of Free Press Journal.
Santoshi “Paddy” Padhi, chief creative officer and founder of Taproot Dentsu also shared some insights from the campaign’s conceptualization: “Since the last year or so, Taproot have partnered with FPJ and created some impactful creative work and we are quite thrilled about the simplicity of this idea and how seamlessly it has allowed us to weave the message, which happens to be an important warning, into the product itself. It is an apt example of how print has the potential for innovation, without trying too hard.”
