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ETERNIZING CORPORATE SOCIAL GOOD
Genre Of Impact
Corporate Giving | Volunteerism 360
Are humans designed to do good? All the science and signs say yes. Humanitarianism has always been one of the main pillars of society. Purpose beyond profit is life altering. For the benefactor, the beneficiary and the world. Which is why, selfless or selfish motives notwithstanding, in a world becoming increasingly isolated and, yes, even artificial, sharing more of these instances of good is not just important… it is required. When people see their friends, peers, colleagues and leaders participating in and being moved by giving and volunteering in all ways, this transformative energy is contagious. It inspires people to be and see the change they want around them through individual and collective action. It figures then that the social impact sector can greatly benefit from precision storytelling design. When Oracle wanted to chronicle, on film, 30 years of the tech giant’s volunteerism across the planet including India, their India and global CSR teams resonated with Better Earth Coalition’s approach to impact design and storytelling. The mandate for Better Earth Coalition here was to design and create the India film as also capture content that would be a part of the global film that was being created. Turns out, doing good begets better.
PROBLEM(S)
Capture on film the soul of the work that Oracle Volunteers in India do with underserved schools to help influence and advocate STEM learning among students, with a keen focus on girls.
INSIGHT
Oracle is 100 percent heart and not just tech. The work that Oracle does is not just about technology, but about the purpose or purposes that technology enables. Through practical ‘learn by doing’ experiments with students and collaborating with grassroots foundations, Oracle brings its expertise in state-of-the-art technology into straight-from-the-heart initiatives. From the outset, Better Earth Coalition decided that the story must have a heart and message that resonates universally across audiences and the world. The narrative of the shot-taking had to capture not just the launch of the actual science experiments, but the ignition of limitless space dreams in girls. Powered by the work of Oracle’s volunteering heroes. Small, cherished hopes of an underserved school and its bright students take flight with the help of parachutes, gliders and Oracle Volunteers in collaboration with the Bodhi Tree Foundation. Students would assemble parachutes, gliders and a phases of the moon experiment. Then, using a parachute, they would launch a small payload. The story would be designed to capture the launch of fulsome young dreams and Oracle Volunteers’ passion and commitment. Bound by lucid storytelling, glue and hope.
ACTION
- As the first step, the editorial, creative and design teams at Better Earth Coalition researched, conceptualised, wrote and designed the story, which went through several iterations. As this was to be a non-fiction short story on film, the script served as the blueprint or guide to achieving the heroes’ journey and story’s arc.
- Once the story and its different elements were locked in, our direction, production and post-production teams worked on the pre-production and technical aspects of the filmmaking to bring to life the story.
- Better Earth Coalition’s direction and production team shot the film at a government school in the city of Bengaluru. Our teams worked with Oracle to ensure the volunteers, school, students and other stakeholders participated wholeheartedly to do the story justice. Right from the anticipation of the adventure, the preparation of the experiments, to the launch.
- Our post-production and edit team meticulously dove deep into the minutest aspects of the edit to birth a story that would live up to the ambition set at the beginning of the endeavour.
- As this was done in equal partnership with team Oracle, team Better Earth Coalition liaised with the former’s India and global teams to ensure all creative and technical requirements were always aligned, ensuring all payloads land safely on target.
RESULTS
The footage, shot by Better Earth Coalition which met all the global requirements, was sent to Oracle’s edit partners in the United States where it was seamlessly stitched into the global film. Meanwhile, the raw footage launched a new rocket of ambition in the Oracle Volunteering team, both in India and at the global level — to see the standalone India story be placed on its global digital channel. The evolution and elevation of this small project, from being just regional footage in the global film to becoming an independent narrative of its own to be aired on the cloud software behemoth’s global digital and social media channels, is testament to our belief in and commitment to telling stories that impact better, irrespective of the medium. Several payloads were delivered successfully with the power of precision storytelling. This goes a long way to inspire the CSR and impact sector to deliver better for their beneficiaries in the long term. Watch the Oracle India Volunteering film here.
Swamy as he is fondly called, understands grassroots enterprise through two lenses – first as an advanced diploma recipient in molecular diagnostics further to an Msc. in biotechnology and second as the founder of a social enterprise called Kaskom, a farm to fabric collective that is revitalising India’s native cotton value chain. His passion for social enterprise and agro-ecology that weaves in local communities & practices runs deep. As does his understanding of the circular economy. He is also the Vice President at the Organic Farming Association of India (OFAI). He is involved in developing the Standard Operating Procedures (SOP) for all activities from seed to fabric, for the Indian short stapled indigenous cotton, along with Gandhigram Khadi Dindigul & Gram Seva Mandal, Wardha.
Swamy has conducted numerous workshops around the revival of organic practices and indigenous cotton, held several lectures apart from being a core participant in impactful programs. These include “Reviving community based indigenous seed systems” funded by SWISS-AID India, exploring linkages between weather parameters, paddy cultivation and adaptation activities in collaboration with Earthnet Foundation, Thailand, state coordination of “Save our rice campaign” in Karnataka and the “Community biodiversity management and conservation programme” funded by GGF.
Creative. Honest. Relevant. Be it a campaign, product design or a whitepaper,
Aakanksha’s mantra has never failed her. An alumna from the Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts – Singapore, specialised in design, media and animation, Aakanksha is first and foremost a storyteller, with a decade of experience developing brands across industries through consumer insights, advertising, marketing, branding, and content strategy. Conscientious and driven, Aakanksha prefers to use her creativity and understanding of human behaviour to craft impactful deliverables that do good. This has proven particularly beneficial for impact projects like Domex’s #ToiletForBabli and India’s Darwaza Band (Swachh Bharat campaign). She has worked with Lowe Lintas and The Glitch, with a portfolio comprising Flipkart, Tanishq, Carlsberg, Mumbai City FC, World Bank, Magnum Ice-cream, Arrow, and more. She has also worked on the Taj, Betterplace Safety Solutions, Nestaway, Botbot.al, and 2359Media.
Having spent over 25 years curating and designing high-end experiences and advising sustainable ventures, Philippa is passionate about discovering stories, culture and people and uses her empathy and passion to manifest unboxed ideas. Shuttling between Yorkshire and India, she helps clients reimagine the possible. A destination development specialist and, having worked on both sides of the industry, a consultant both to leading tour operators as well as DMCs, she is also the author of Escape to India, a columnist and advisor to charities and NGOs. Her adventures are literally a novel – skiing, trekking, white-water rafting, riding priceless Marwari horses, fine-dining with Maharajas, driving vintage cars, sleeping under the stars, discovering new-to-her wildlife species & being off the beaten track. Think Lara Croft, out of the box.
We call him our IP man. Having worked on building brand platforms for iconic brands like Harley Davidson, Ray Ban, Jack Daniel’s, Hard Rock Cafe, Raymond & Taj, Arpito’s body of work has been versatile and at scale. With a long foundational strategy stint, early in his career, with the Times Group in the President’s office, Arpito went on to become the Group Director at Rolling Stone and Man’s World India, launching and giving the cult brand legs in the brand activations and IP space. A Times School of Marketing alumnus, he is a hodophile, music connoisseur and possesses an uncanny knack for creative brand solutions. He revels in his understanding of community platforms, across scale, having engineered and conceived several initiatives for leading global brands. He is also the chief consultant to the Ministry of Music & Arts, Govt. of Nagaland, a consultant with Drishti and has led several initiatives with government bodies and social organisations.
Narrative could well be Anil’s middle name, which expresses itself to telling effect across his diverse roles as an entrepreneur, impact specialist, director-filmmaker, IP producer, business manager, festival director and Corp. communication. His earlier stint as the Editorial Director at Going to School Fund, a creative not-for-profit education trust, saw him ideate and design impact programs, content around sustainability, seeding entrepreneurial skills amongst young students in government schools. His work is powered by his extremely diverse life experiences. As a journalist storyteller with Times of India, HT, DNA and Mid-day, learning filmmaking at UCLA, as an assistant director on the National Award-winning film Fashion, writing a coffee table book with India’s first Oscar-winner, the late Bhanu Athaiya, titled The Art of Costume Design, published by Harper Collins with a foreword by Lord Richard Attenborough, being the India director of the Manhattan Short Film Festival, the world’s first global short film festival, co-creating the VOTE FOR INDIA platform and more. A polymath experience and perspectives are what he brings to venture design.
