"It’s been exactly a year and two months since we started INTO Creative, and Chupps Footwear was our first brand. Last March, soon after we set up, Chupps came on board. It was a small brand, with just four-and-a-half years of experience in the industry, but the team believed it was time to take a leap. When the brand came on board, we were looking for a sharp differentiator. Chupps was then experimenting with biodegradable footwear, and I spoke to founder Yash Mukhi about launching it as soon as possible because I thought it was a wonderful idea.
In a world where millions of tonnes of footwear end up in landfills, here was a product that wouldn’t lie there for hundreds of years. Consumers are increasingly conscious of what they buy, so biodegradable footwear has the potential to stand out even against the biggest global brands. I believed in the product enough to become an investor in the company, which also gave me the creative freedom I needed.
The idea was simple and beautiful: the product lands on the soil and disintegrates, the way human beings are meant to. But we couldn’t let the campaign end with a 20- or 30-second film. Our aim was to create as much noise as possible around Chupps being India’s first 100% biodegradable footwear brand.
Budgets, however, did not allow us to go big. Even hiring directors was too expensive for the three films we had planned. So I called my friend Amol Jadhav, a photographer, and explained the concept. He went blank and responded only three days later, saying he was shocked because he had never been to a funeral. It took him some time to process the setting before he felt courageous enough to make the film with me.
His team did a fabulous job, making every part of the process easy. We shot the film in Satara with non-actors in September. It was almost good luck and God’s grace that it didn’t pour. Instead, the dark clouds gave the film a muted look we could never have created ourselves. We spent days walking around the town to find the right people for the film and never revealed the idea to them until the last moment. Some reacted positively, while some of the younger people found it innovative.
We wanted that mixed reaction online and offline. And the campaign did become a talking point. The client reaction, however, was mixed. Yash Mukhi was on board, but his team had doubts. I sat with them and explained the nuances, including why I was confident the film wouldn’t get into trouble. We had consciously avoided religious symbols, and I assured them that anything problematic could be edited. They also questioned the funeral setup, so I explained its purpose.
There is no joke in the film, yet it creates a dark, almost funny effect while landing the message about the footwear beautifully disintegrating into the soil. I’m sure they are happier now: sales have peaked since October and in the last quarter, and Chupps has expanded its biodegradable footwear portfolio.
And that’s how our first brand story ended with everything coming together.”
IMPACT’S PICK
‘Designing for Endings’ - Chupps Footwear
ABOUT SANTOSH PADHI
Santosh ‘Paddy’ Padhi doesn’t just create ads—he creates cultural landmarks. From co-founding Taproot and turning it into one of India’s most awarded creative agencies to shaping bold narratives, Paddy has spent over three decades proving that great advertising is all about being fearless. Now, as Founder, Chairman and CCO of Into Creative, he believes that small and compact is the way to go and with these brands, he will create the largest impact.
With 200+ international awards and iconic campaigns to his name, Paddy remains one of Indian advertising’s most influential creative forces.
BEST WORK
‘Pooja Didi’ – Facebook
‘Har Ek Friend Zaruri Hota Hai’ – Airtel
CAMPAIGNS I LOVE
‘Write The Future’ – Nike
