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Britannia, one of India’s oldest and largest FMCG advertisers, and a long-standing client of the outdoor advertising business, has flipped the script on traditional outdoor advertising. To highlight its ongoing commitment to sustainable practices, the brand has allowed nature to take the lead in its latest campaign, spotlighting its ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance) initiatives over the years. Literally.
The 'Nature Shapes Britannia' is an outdoor advertising (OOH) series that stands out for a simple yet powerful reason: these billboards literally take the shape of the trees around them, both metaphorically and visually illustrating how one of India’s largest organisations adapts to nature rather than the other way around. Each billboard is accompanied by a message about Britannia’s progress in sustainability across various facets, from plastic neutrality to waste management, harnessing a circular economy, water stewardship, and energy management.
The trees determine the art direction and typography of the billboards next to them, deciding how the brand name is shaped—sometimes curving down, sometimes upwards, sometimes cramped, and at other times, bouncing. This reflects the cooperative and adaptive mindset that large brands need to embrace on the ground in order to make real progress in sustainability.
The campaign’s creative agency, Talented, collaborated with multiple media partners to implement a unique media strategy that is counterintuitive to conventional billboard selection processes. Since media agencies typically do not track billboards "blocked by trees" in top Indian cities, the selection process involved a boots-on-the-ground approach.
Amit Doshi, Chief Marketing Officer of Britannia, shared, “Britannia has been committed to being a sustainable organisation with a deep dedication to its strategic ESG pillars. Over the years, we’ve learned that sustainability requires a conscious, adaptive, and flexible approach. This initiative is a reflection of this adaptable approach, with nature shaping ‘Britannia’, quite literally. The team even ensured that the material used for the hoardings was 100% cotton biodegradable, ensuring we stay true to the cause we are promoting.”
Aabhaas Shreshtha, Founding Member and Creative Head at Talented, added, “Nature shapes Britannia, and so it was only natural for us to want nature to shape its advertising as well. Thus began our mission to find ‘rare trees with billboards right next to them’. After an extensive recce with our media partners, we studied the contours of each tree, understood its growth and coverage, and designed around them. Large-scale sustainability charters can be immensely impactful in the bigger picture, but they often seem distant. By partnering with nature to tell the story, Britannia is bridging that gap.”
Sonia Lal, Partner at Coral Media, commented, “We were pleasantly surprised when we were briefed about this campaign, and we honestly feel incredibly proud to support Britannia’s initiative. It’s not just a fantastic way to showcase the brand’s sustainability efforts, but also a message to other advertisers and media owners to think differently. Not everything great has to come at the expense of nature.”
The 'Nature Shapes Britannia' OOH campaign went live in four cities, including Hyderabad, Kolkata, Meerut, and Pune, in partnership with a range of trees such as Nag Kesar, Mango, Neem, and Peepal.
