Blog@GraceJunction

The Times Group had outclassed rivals at the Abby Nite in Mumbai— powered by a brilliant ad campaign done by Grey Worldwide, centered around saving the girl child, which appeared in The Times of India, Ahmedabad edition, in October-November 2006. With five golds and one silver, the ‘Jaago Gujarat’ campaign was a clear winner in the category of Public Service Advertising at the Ad Club of Mumbai’s 40th Abby Awards function at Royal Turf Club.

The Times of India, Ahmedabad edition’s ‘Jaago Gujarat-Save the Girl Child’ campaign, one of the most successful and long-running examples of positive activism for a social cause, also swept the UNFPA-Laadli Media Awards for Gender Sensitivity 2006-07. In the western region awards, TOI-Ahmedabad won the award for the “Best Campaign on the issue of Sex Selection by a Media Group.” Special correspondent Radha Sharma, who spearheaded the campaign, bagged the award for best reporting in the category of ‘News Features-Print Media in English Newspapers’. Advertising agency Grey Worldwide bagged an award for the ‘Best Public Service Advertisement in Print’ for the advertisement campaign around the girl child issue in TOI-Ahmedabad.

Some campaign! Everyone bagged something or the other! (more…)

The TOI today is flooded with the news of a DPS school bus that overturned yesterday on it way to school. Little Akul Rathod, a really cute 9 year old student of standard IV, was killed in this freak accident, and he had no scope of survival because, his head got trapped between the bus and the road divider and his skull got crushed.

It pains me to even write about it, and I cannot even imagine the deep scar this event will cause in the mind of his parents. And this wound will never heal. They will have to nurse it as long as they live.

Ashok Patel, the driver of the ill-fated bus was overspeeding it seems. He jumped a divider and rushed past a truck to beat him to the junction. He overtook from the right when he actually needed to turn to the left! The trucker was not very happy it seems. He gave a slight nudge to our ‘Ayrton Senna’ before he speeded away to his destination, leaving the school bus to a cruel destiny. The bus it seems, turned turtle twice and in the process threw Akul out of the window pane, only to crush him later. (more…)