Creative Strategy Case Example:
“The Happiness Diaries”
In July of 2018 the Government of New Delhi launched an education initiative to integrate socio-emotional life skills into their regular schooling. The reform, called the Happiness Curriculum, engaged 1.2 million students and 50,000 teachers in 20,000 classrooms in 1,000 schools across the New Delhi metropolitan area.
I was hired as the Creative Media Strategist and Producer for the Government of New Delhi and its partner non-profit organization, Dream a Dream, for whom I developed the following strategic campaign:
Client: The Government of New Delhi/The Happiness Curriculum
Campaign: The Happiness Diaries
Goals
Encourage other governments to investigate and adopt similar policies
Conduct qualitative research to assess impact one year after launch of Curriculum
Problems Identified
Government of New Delhi struggled to synthesize, interpret, and package qualitative ethnographic data when connecting with public sector partners in a way that would inspire action
Research
Facilitated qualitative polling and focus groups among development sector thought leaders to understand disconnect; one teacher remarked that, instead of needing to engage with government media, she’d “rather be in the classroom”
Explored theoretical education framework developed by Delhi State Council of Education Research and Training (SCERT) and Directorate of Education (DOE) on the “Happiness Triad,” the core philosophy of the Curriculum, which takes a student from momentary happiness to sustained happiness
Insights
Tap into educators’ and policymakers’ obligation and commitment to listen to students
Execution
Structured as diary entries - short, personal, emotional, and with the stories of the students at their center - to present a 1:1 relationship between the films and Curriculum that allows audiences to “experience” the Curriculum
A runtime of less than five minutes in order to grab and maintain the attention of government officials, public sector thought leaders, and potential financial donors, it was crucial to synthesize complex social issues and educational theory into digestible segments
Filmed and edited in the Hindi language to ensure truth of message is conveyed
Results
Films actively being used by education practitioners within the Government of New Delhi and Dream a Dream to construct similar policies in the Indian states of Jharkhand, Uttarakhand, and Andhra Pradesh; one educator in Andhra Pradesh remarked she didn’t understand the reform until she saw it unfold in the films
The films were released in a coordinated build-up to the one-year celebration event Happiness Utsav to raise community awareness to cement further partnerships, and generated ~50,000 views; additionally, the aesthetic and narrative identity of the films informed OOH and social campaigns launched in the New Delhi metropolitan area
The Films
Chapter One: Great Man
Chapter Two: The Boy Who Found His Voice
Chapter Three: Home Remedy
Chapter Four: Stephen Hawking & Me
