One of India’s renowned independent creative agencies- Rediffusion has won the creative and media mandate of BIRD (Billion Readers Initiative), led by PlanetRead, in association with IIT-Delhi.
As part of the mandate, Rediffusion-led by Sandeep Goyal, will leverage its expertise in advertising and media to promote BIRD’s mission across India and create impactful campaigns that highlight the importance of literacy and the benefits of SLS, ensuring that the message reaches a wide enough audience.
Additionally, through strategic marketing initiatives, Rediffusion will also try to garner widespread support for BIRD and its vision of making every Indian a fluent reader.
BIRD is a revolutionary systems change initiative supported by Co-Impact, designed to enhance literacy, language learning, and media access for all Indians which focuses on integrating Same Language Subtitling (SLS) into all entertainment video content in every Indian language.
By providing subtitles in the same language as the audio, viewers get to read what they see and hear on the screen, making literacy a part of their daily entertainment experience.
Commenting on the development, Brij Kothari, Adjunct Professor at IIT-Delhi’s School of Public Policy who leads BIRD, stated, “India is the first country leveraging SLS on mainstream entertainment for literacy. Rediffusion’s creative prowess and strategic insights will be instrumental in establishing this globally important innovation.”
Commenting on the partnership, Sandeep Goyal, Chairman of Rediffusion said, “We are honoured to be a part of this groundbreaking initiative. At Rediffusion, we are fully supportive of BIRD’s SLS initiatives and will work towards making Dr. Brij Kothari’s dream a reality.”
To this, Rediffusion’s Asheesh Malhotra added, “The SLS initiative is a small intervention that will have a big societal impact, capable of transforming the lives of children (especially the girl child) and adults alike who are deprived of basic reading skills. At Rediffusion, we are helping shape a war cry narrative to reach out to media houses, central and state governments, on-ground agencies, and key people who will support the initiative and make the mission their own as well.”
