BharatMatrimony, the online matrimony service, teamed up with Indian cricket icon and former national team skipper MS Dhoni to launch a campaign titled ‘Pehle Padhai Phir Shaadi’ (First Studies, Then Marriage) to empower girls to prioritise education over marriage.
Conceptualized by Isobar, the commercial sets out to encourage parents to inspire and support their daughters in their educational ambitions and offer them the freedom to ‘think, choose and take charge of their destiny’.
The film features the legendary batter/wicket keeper discussing how different houses throughout India have diverse pieces of art before focusing on a particular artwork in Jaisalmer where the walls are painted to celebrate the start of marriage unions. Dhoni then links this tradition to his own and BharatMatrimony’s support for women’s choice before a scene showing Shiksa wall art of girl’s celebrating prioritising their education.
Created in harness with agency Isobar and launched on 21 February, this campaign blends together the unlikely combination of a male sports super star and an online matrimonial service to encourage young women across India to choose education before marriage.
The spot is supported by the brand’s new scholarship programme for young Indian women who choose to focus on their education before choosing marriage.
“As a brand in the forefront of empowering women, BharatMatrimony is constantly trying to break new ground and change the social perspective about women, relationships and marriage. We believe #PehlePadhaiPhirShaadi will drive social change by encouraging girls to choose education first. Let’s not forget that educating a girl is like educating the family,” commented Matrimony.com CEO Murugavel Janakiraman.
Isobar’s Creative Director (India) Aalap Desai added: “When we saw the problem, the solution didn’t call for a cutting-edge tech to be employed. Rather, simply asking parents to hand the decision to their daughters and celebrate it no matter what, was what the campaign called for. For us, Dhoni was the perfect spokesman to appeal to these parents. And that’s exactly what we did.”
Comment
To some western eyes this may seem like a surprising use of athlete ambassador marketing, but to many in India Dhoni is the best known symbol of the modern nation and one who commands respect across age, gender and regional demographics across the country.
Part of Matrimony.com, BharatMatrimony was founded in 1997 by Murugavel Janakiraman (who even met his wife through his own matrimony site) and now boasts 130 outlets across in India (and in Dubai, Malaysia, Sri Lanka and the USA).
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