Ogilvy Bangalore launches Madhya Pradesh Tourism’s Jal Mahotsav Campaign

Mumbai: After the much talked about and very visible ‘MP main dilhuabacchesa’ campaign released last year, Madhya Pradesh Tourism embarks on yet another magical journey with its latest television commercial for Jal Mahotsav, India’s first ever water festival.

AzazulHaque & Mahesh Gharat, Chief Creative Officers, Ogilvy Bangalore: Every Madhya Pradesh Tourism campaign is like competing with our own past campaign. Once again the challenge was to create a piece of communication that also looks like a piece of art, like every other MP Tourism campaign. Since the brief was to create excitement around Jal Mahotsava, a magnificent event that happens on an island of Hanuwantiya where water related sports and activities take place, we thought using water colour paintings created by children would be the best way to capture that fun and excitement. But then static water colour paintings were not enough to showcase the exuberance and energy of Jal Mahotsava. So, we decided to make the characters in the paintings move. That was a herculean task. Rajesh and Vidya, the directors of the film, played a significant role in helping us overcome this herculean task. Many thousands of paintings were created and finally 700 plus paintings were used with ‘stop motion’ technique to create this magic. Even the words in the song are kept childish and only the sound of water drops and Ghatam (a clay tumbler) are used to create the music. We wanted to create childlike magic in this campaign. Hope we have achieved it.

Keeping in line with last year’s ‘dilhuabacchesa’ campaign, which aimed at bringing alive the child in every tourist, the new Jal Mahtosav campaign brings alive the many splendours of the water festival through a child’s imagination. And carrying forward the legacy of past campaigns done for Madhya Pradesh Tourism, this one too is a visually & musically rich treat. The stop motion film, which took about three months to complete, was shot with over 700 water colour paintings, where the key frames were painted by children and the style was carried forward by more than 30 professional artists. Using the Kessler Rig stop motion technique, the film was shot in a single take.

Ajay Menon, Executive Vice President, Ogilvy India: It is always a delight to work on a brief from MP Tourism. This time around the brief was to promote Jal Mahotsav, a one-of-its-kind water festival, being held at Hanuwantiya in Khandwa district. Therefore, in keeping with the work we’ve done with MP Tourism over the last decade, our response to this brief also attempts to create the same magic through its visual and aural experience. We hope the campaign excites people enough to plan their next trip to MP.

Jal Mahotsav offers a treasure trove of experiences on land, air and water. From cruising in a hot air balloon to speeding on a jet ski, from zip lining over the island to enjoying a languid cruise in the back waters; one can experience all this and a whole lot more. Jal Mahotsav is being held at Hanuwantiya in Khandwa district from 15th October’17 – 2nd January’18. Now in its third year, Jal Mahotsav has become a very important part of MP Tourism’s tour packages with more and more people coming over to discover a completely new face of the state.