Britannia gets students to send Raksha Bandhan messages to jawans

The brand went to schools in Delhi and asked students to put down their heartfelt messages for the jawans on the occasion of Raksha Bandhan

While sisters were busy tying Rakhis on the hands of their brothers during the festival of Raksha Bandhan yesterday, Britannia was busy extending the celebration beyond the family.

Raksha Bandhan traditionally celebrates the sacred bond of trust between brother and sister. As a token of this bond, sisters tie Rakhis on the wrists of their brothers. Britannia's activity, 'Building new ties of trust beyond the family - Iss Rakhi par bandho, ek naya bandhan', approached school students and asked them to send messages to their 'other brothers' - the soldiers or 'jawans' at the border.

Britannia reached out to select schools in Delhi and Pune and shared with the children beautiful Rakhis. The Rakhis came with attached notes where the students could write messages for the jawans. All these Rakhis were then collected and collaged to be sent to the soldiers at the border.

The objective of the activity was to acknowledge the role and the sacrifices of the soldiers through a warm gesture of sending Rakhis and messages from the young students.

While Britannia targeted schools in Mumbai and Bengaluru in a similar activity last year, this year, the activity was taken to schools in Delhi and Pune, where a total of 10,000 students across six schools were reached.

Shalini Degan, category director, delight and lifestyle, Britannia, says, "We decided that instead of reaching out to only a couple of schools in many cities, we'd rather focus on a couple of cities reaching out to many more schools. Going forward, in the next year, we plan to reach out to more students across cities."

She adds that Raksha Bandhan is typically celebrated in the North and West but the company hopes to take it across the country and so may even focus on the South market next year.

More than 10,000 students have been reached through this activity. The students have written emotional and inspiring messages to the jawans. While last year only written messages were sent across, this year, Britannia has gone a step forward and has even recorded video messages from students.

This initiative stands as a heartfelt gratitude to the service of the army and the defence sector. Degan shares that the Rakhis, messages and videos will reach the jawans by the end of this week.