Terminally ill patients teach us how to #LaughAtDeath
: A new IAPC public awareness campaign on palliative or end of life care is aimed at helping Indians #LaughAtDeath. The campaign has been conceptualised by Medulla Communications

“Hello everybody, I am a Sikh.”
“So Sikh that I was admitted to Guru Nanak Hospital.”
It is a joke, go ahead and laugh. Only, this joke was told by a terminally-ill patient.
Agreed, that was a particularly dark joke. For a terminally-ill patient to crack a joke on death may seem morbid and that comes from the notion that it is a taboo to even speak about death. And it is that notion that Indian Association of Palliative Care (IAPC) wanted to tackle with its latest public awareness campaign.
This new IAPC public awareness campaign on palliative or end of life care is aimed at helping Indians #LaughAtDeath. The campaign has been conceptualised by Medulla Communications.
Speaking about the main insight that inspired the campaign, Praful Akali, Founder & MD, Medulla Communications, said, “We learnt that one in two cancer patients in India don’t even know that they are being treated for cancer.” The team learnt that not only is death a taboo topic, but even doctors and families don’t discuss it. Akali said that after speaking to many terminally-ill patients they found that it is those who had been to palliative care who could talk about death and even joke about it. “And that is the ultimate indication of being comfortable about death,” he said.
Armed with that insight, Akali and his team conceptualised this campaign, which features terminally-ill patients performing a stand-up comedy show for their families and doctors. “For all of the patients who took part in the campaign, performing stand-up was something they checked off their bucket list,” Akali said.
In 2016 IAPC and Medulla together had initiated a similar public awareness campaign - #LastWords. The heavily emotional campaign featured real nurses recollecting last words of their patients. When asked why the team chose to go with humour this year, Akali said that the new campaign was emotional in its own way, adding, “This video has made people laugh and cry at the same time, and I don’t think we have seen anything like that in a while.”
Working with terminally ill patients comes with its own set of challenges. “Until the last minute we did not know if we would be able to run the campaign, because it depended entirely on 4 amateur stand-up comedians who could have frozen on stage,” said Akali. One of the participants, a 93-year-old woman passed away two weeks before the final shoot. And another participant, a 25-year-old cancer patient could not take part because he was experiencing severe side-effects of radiation therapy.
Sharing his experience of working on this campaign, Amit Akali, CCO, Medulla, said that this was the most difficult (almost impossible) project of their lives. “It was made easy and possible by the patients, eager to share their stories and make the most of their last days. They moved us with their courage and floored us with their live performances, some of them taking a stage for the first time in 85 years! They opened their lives to the stand-up comics and rehearsed hard for days,” he said.
Mihir Chitre, Creative Group Head, also said that he was happy to work with the patients, “The most rewarding part of this campaign has been interacting with the terminally ill patients. I think they’ve changed the way I look at life,” said Chitre.
For this campaign patients were selected from hundreds of terminally ill patients that IAPC members support daily. The chosen patients were trained to perform stand-up comedy by stand-up comedians Kunal Kamra, Kashyap, Vinay Sharma, Punit Pania, Shriram R and Anand Reghu.
Dr. Mary Ann Muckaden, President of IAPC, said that she is looking forward to increase access to palliative care in India with Medulla. “Right now only 3 per cent of cancer patients get even simple pain relief. Hopefully, this campaign will change that,” she said.
This campaign is being pursued across all media channels with unique partnerships. Next week the campaign will go on air on Radio Mirchi stations across the country with the four participants recording their performance in Radio Mirchi’s studio and interacting with RJs on air.
The campaign has already gone viral across social media and was trending on Twitter within 45 minutes of its launch. #LaughAtDeath was trending on Twitter for 3 hours and garnered 140 million impressions at last count.
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E4M Our strategy is to target younger audiences through Sports: Rajiv Dubey, Dabur
The Head of Media at Dabur India spoke exclusively to exchange4media on the World Cup, associating with Indian Idol, the company’s digital spending and much more
With quirky campaigns, memes and moment marketing, timed with the ongoing World Cup and particularly the India-Pakistan matches, Dabur India has got considerable consumer attention for its popular brands – Red Paste, Cool King Hair Oil, Chyawanprash, Dabur Vita and the recently launched Bae Fresh Gel toothpaste.
The 140-year-old company is going big on key sporting events, World Television Premiere (WTP) movies and reality shows. It is now gearing up to become the title sponsor of popular talent show ‘Indian Idol’ on Sony TV for the first time, shared Rajiv Dubey, who leads the media strategy at Dabur.
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Swapan Seth's new book 'COOL' is out
The book is a reflection of the author's 'eclectic taste across categories'
Advertising professional and art collector Swapan Seth has announced the launch of his new book COOL. The book is described as "a ready reckoner to the hip and the happening, of the known and the very unknown."
The book is a reflection of the author's "eclectic taste across categories: from boltholes to exotic hideaways."
COOL has been published by Simon & Schuster India and is available on Amazon.
Seth is an ad veteran with a long and illustrious career in the industry. He became the youngest-ever Creative Director at Clarion at age 24. He was VP at 26 at Trikaya Grey. Two years later, he started his agency Equus.
He writes for publications such as The Economic Times, Hindustan Times and India Today. This is his second book and he has previously published THIS IS ALL I HAVE TO SAY.
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Disney Star signs 9 sponsors for Asia Cup PAK
Charged by Thums Up, Nerolac Paint+, Amazon Pay, Jindal Panther, My11Circle, MRF, Samsung Galaxy Z Flip5, Wild Stone and Thums Up come on board
e4m Staff Disney Star has signed nine broadcast and digital streaming sponsors for the upcoming Asia Cup.
Charged by Thums Up, Nerolac Paint+, Amazon Pay, Jindal Panther, My11Circle, MRF, Samsung Galaxy Z Flip5, Wild Stone and Thums Up have come on board for the upcoming tournament.
As reported earlier by exchange4media, Disney Star has sought Rs 26 crore for the co-presenting sponsorship on TV and Rs 30 crore for Disney+ Hotstar.
According to industry sources, the associate sponsorship on Star Sports has been priced at Rs 19.66 crore, whereas for the ‘powered by’ sponsorship on Disney+ Hotstar, the broadcaster is seeking Rs 18 crore.
As per the information available with exchange4media, Disney+ Hotstar has three sponsorship tiers-- co-presenting (Rs 30 crore), powered by (Rs 18 crore) and associate sponsorship (Rs 12 crore). The broadcaster is offering an estimated reach of 120-140 million for co-presenting sponsors, 90-100 million for powered by and 60-70 million for associate sponsorship.
A spot buy for 10 seconds has been priced at Rs 25 lakh for the India vs Pakistan matches, while for the non-India matches, the ad rate for 10 second is Rs 2.3 lakh. The India matches plus the final for ODIs has been priced at Rs 17 lakh per 10 seconds.
Asia Cup is scheduled to be held from 30 August, 2023, to September 17, 2023.
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Sorted 360 wins creative & social media mandate of Reliance Mall
The agency will manage offline and online campaigns for Reliance Mall
Sorted 360, an integrated creative and social media agency, has won the mandate to providing brand solutions for Reliance Malls across India.
“Sorted 360 is set to enhance Reliance Malls' market presence with their unparalleled creative prowess and strategic thinking,” read a press release.
“Sorted 360's commitment to pushing the boundaries of creative communication aligns perfectly with Reliance Malls' ethos. With a pan-India presence spanning across 19 cities and growing, Reliance Malls has consistently captivated customers by offering an array of Reliance brands and third-party fashion & lifestyle brands. The mall has established an unparalleled connection with its patrons through superior quality, a remarkable value proposition, and an unmatched shopping experience,” it read further.
"We are thrilled to welcome Sorted 360 as our trusted partner in advancing our brand presence across the nation," said the Head of Marketing at Relaice Malls. "Their proven expertise in retail, shopping center management, and innovative creative strategies make them the perfect fit for our vision."
"Partnering with Reliance Malls is a testament to our commitment to shaping extraordinary brand experiences," remarked Prerana Anatharam, Co-founder of Sorted 360. "We are excited to leverage our strategic and creative acumen to further elevate Reliance Malls as the epitome of convenience, choice, and excellence."
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KlugKlug onboards Hemang Mehta as Country Manager for Indias
Mehta was most recently Head of Agency Relationships at Network 18 Media & Investments
KlugKlug has appointed Hemang Mehta as its Country Manager for India.
Mehta will play a pivotal role in driving KlugKlug's growth and expansion within the Indian market and be responsible for Sales & GTM Strategy
Prior to that, he has also represented organisations like Exponential (now VDX.tv), India Today Digital and Rediff.com. His expertise spans various domains including digital media sales, mobile marketing, media planning, and buying, social media marketing, and more.
Hemang Mehta expressed his enthusiasm about joining KlugKlug, saying, "I am thrilled to be a part of KlugKlug, a forward-thinking platform that is reshaping the influencer marketing landscape. As much as I look forward to collaborating with the exuberant team at KlugKlug, I am super excited to interact with the brands to deliver powerful data-backed Influencer solutions that will guarantee business outcomes."
Commenting on the appointment, Kalyan Kumar, Co-Founder and CEO of KlugKlug, stated, "We are excited to welcome Hemang Mehta to our team as the Country Manager for India. His extensive experience in digital media sales and marketing will be instrumental in driving our efforts to provide influencer marketing solutions to our clients. We believe Hemang's leadership will be key in scaling our operations and expanding our reach within the Indian market."
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