Godrej, NDTV launch environment-based reality show

'Godrej Green Champion' began on August 1 and will conclude on October 25. The show focusses on raising awareness for environmental issues.

Godrej Group along with NDTV network has launched an environment-based reality TV show called 'Godrej Green Champion'. The show is being aired on weekends on NDTV 24x7, NDTV India, NDTV Prime and NDTV Good Times, at different time slots. The show which was launched on August 1, will conclude on October 25.

The objective of the show is to showcase Godrej as an environment friendly company committed to sustainability, and to showcase its green products such as Godrej Chotukool, Thermo-electric chip, Protekt and Good Knight Fast Card, as well as green processes and initiatives by the Godrej Group via content integration. Each episode showcases something unique about Godrej and its environmental and societal efforts. The show hopes to create awareness about the issues plaguing the environment and how people can make a major difference by adopting green practices.

The show is targetted at people in the age bracket of 25-44 years, within Sec A and B - those who are environmentally conscious and early adopters of new products.

As part of the reality show, 15 contestants traverse through the length and breadth of India - across Gurgaon, Delhi, Jaipur, Dewas, Mumbai, Sirsi and Bangalore - where they are given challenging tasks such as cleaning up a public space, trash to treasure, filmmaking to create environmental awareness, urban gardening, healthy cooking, afforestation, setting up rainwater harvesting system, to name a few. The challenges are not only physically enduring, but high on mental pressure. The concept behind 'Godrej Green Champion' is to use the medium of reality television to engage audiences for making the environment better.

The winner of 'Godrej Green Champion' will be awarded a seed capital of up to Rs. 3 lakh to incubate an idea and solve an environmental issue which he/she is passionate about. Beyond the capital investment, Godrej will also provide physical infrastructure and requisite guidance to help the winner develop a business plan to make it scaleable and relevant. The winner can also choose to work for the Godrej Good and Green team as an intern for six months and assist in an ongoing green project at the Godrej campus.

The tasks for the participants are decided by a panel of environmentalists that includes names like Vimlendu Jha, the 'Green Guide' and judge on the show, who is a social activist and founder of Sweccha, a New Delhi-based, youth-led youth-run organisation; Supriya Singh, co-founder and executive director of the Indian Youth Climate Network; Vishal Singh, co-founder of Eco-Hut; Shobhit Jain, director, Samaj Pragati Sahayog; Adrienne Thadani, founder of Fresh & Local; Panduranga Hegde, an environmentalist who initiated the popular Appiko movement and Vishwanath secretary general of International Rainwater Catchment Systems Association.

The key environmental issues addressed in this show range from air pollution, waste to landfill, water scarcity and deforestation. The show aims to highlight how corporates can take up the responsibility of creating awareness and concern about the environment, how the youth can be engaged to bring about a change and how each of us can contribute to the betterment of the society, even if on a small scale.

The company has taken to outdoor advertising with hoardings across Mumbai's JVPD circle and Bandra-Mahim junction. The ads show human organs, such as lungs and heart, which carry the message that one must be aware of the environment and care about it as much as one would of oneself. The ads urge people to become being conscious towards protecting the environment by adopting green practices which can make our cities cleaner, healthier and pollution-free.

Commenting on the show, Shireesh Joshi, head, strategic marketing, Godrej Group, says, "Godrej has always been driven by a view of the future and has devoted its organisational resources and energy in shaping that future. These are times when we need every living person concerned about and committed to the well-being of our planet. 'Green Champion' is a reality TV contest, but it also should raise consciousness of acts of commission and omission each person can commit to, in order to protect the future of the environment."

Manasi Narasimhan, head, Godrej Masterbrand, adds, "We had an integrated campaign to promote the show comprising radio, TV and digital. We wanted to explore outdoor from an innovations perspective as the nature of this medium creates a lot of buzz. We wanted to create impact with minimum spread across the city. The innovation highlights the need to preserve vegetation as they are ultimately the lungs of the city. The other innovation highlights sharing our resources with other species and living on the planet with harmony. This ties in with the sustainability communication that we are doing with the 'Godrej Green Champion' show."