Occasion: Special screening of a brand new Indian movie on its premier day in Toronto.

Community involved: South Asians at large – Bollywood buffs specifically.

Time: November 2012.

Backgrounder: First used by the Agency in 2010, Bollywood movies have proven to be excellent communication vehicles for Western Union year after year. This latest movie launch dropped in at the right time – on Diwali Day. The Agency organized free Diwali shows at various centres across Canada for ‘friends of Western Union’. The media was out in full strength to cover this double-header event: the premier of the movie as well as the release of a special Study Report on ‘South Asian immigrants to Canada’ sponsored by Western Union.

Challenge 1: Attach a PR angle to the event and optimize it fully.
Challenge 2: Since the media exposure was for a fairly short duration, the challenge was to create maximum excitement in the market in the quickest possible time and have people turn out in large numbers to make the event a success.

Measurables:

The event was covered by 4 of the top South Asian TV Channels across Canada;
Top 15 South Asian (English, Punjabi & Hindi) newspapers ran the story with pictures;
All free shows across Canada were ‘sold out’ within a matter of 36 hours.