Turning a Form into Santa's Bag of Giving

Nanhi Kali and a plea for a better future for young girls

'Twas the night before Xmas back in 1997 when we released this print ad for Nanhi Kali, a charitable trust by the Keshab Mahindra foundation (part of Mahindra & Mahindra), which gave little girls in India, the benefit of a prized education and a pathway to a promising future.

While working as a copywriter back in my early days at PSL Universal McCann, Mumbai, India, I had proactively thought of this concept that aimed to get people to donate towards the cause of these 'nanny kalis' when looking at the standard 'form' given out to patrons and contributors from C-suite corporates and affluent customers alike.

Bagging the Idea in Xmas

The idea sparked off from hearing people talking about 'filling" up the form for pledging to donate a certain amount to the future of these 'nahi kalis' or little innocent flowers, giving them a hope to bloom into prosperity with the benefit of a sound education.

The idea was to simple redefine 'filling' up the form from the donor's point of view - by appealing to him with just one narrative: "Fill this. And turn Into Santa." In other words, the act of filling up was virtually like filling up Santa's bag shaped in the form of a coupon.

What was essentially a B2B communication tool as a form being given out as flyers, became a simple and powerful Direct Mailer, while also living a life as a print ad.

Didn't win any award, but sure got a lot of Santas to donate generously to building the future of these little flowers.