EDITORIAL CONTENT – Soolkaama

UGANDAN FASHION COUNCIL, Uganda

Soolkaama — Fri, 19 Jun 2020 11:36:28 +0000

Ugandan Fashion Council

Kampala, Uganda

Using local non-professional talent and low cost tools developed marketing collateral

Soolkaama was approached by the Ugandan Fashion Council to develop a project using local talent in order to produce content for the promotion of their upcoming Kampala Fashion Week (2017) in Uganda.

We created a team comprising of local designers, modelling talents who were sought asylum in Uganda but originally hailed from DRC and South Sudan and a support crew of budding Ugandan photographers. Soolkaama shared behind the scenes, lessons of planning and executing a fashion shoot, and working with constraints of minimal gear. The shoot utilised locally available resources to create interesting lighting, sets and make-up options.

TEACHER TRAINING COLLEGE – Uganda

Soolkaama — Fri, 19 Jun 2020 10:57:35 +0000

Primary Teacher Training College

Kibuli & Busikho, Uganda

Developed plan to recruit local photographers for stock content and strategy to eliminate licensing expenses for creatives

A British Council commissioned research study on teacher training colleges in Uganda. This study examined levels of English amongst student primary school teachers in both rural and urban areas as well as the quality of input they were receiving at the colleges. The purpose of the photography commission was to document the research, giving it added validity, as well as to add depth and accessibility to the reporting of the findings to a wider audience. Soolkaama consultant spent a few days in the teacher training colleges, following the work of the researchers and developing content to illustrate the main subject areas of the research, such as classroom practice, and general conditions in the college.

Local marcoms teams preferred to develop local creatives for annual reports and online promotions instead of relying on stock imagery which seldom contributed towards an inaccurate representation of the local community.

MBALE COFFEE – Uganda

Soolkaama — Fri, 19 Jun 2020 09:22:38 +0000

Mbale Coffee

Mt. Elgon, Uganda

Developed content for promotions, conducted storytelling workshops to ensure creation of a sustainable plan to develop advertising content using local resources

Coffee was introduced to Uganda from Ethiopia and was naturalised along the slopes of Mount Elgon. Arabica coffee continues to be one of Uganda’s major export crop. The farmer dries the coffee beans under the sun and then removes the coffee husks, sorting of the different coffee bean sizes, roasting, grinding and packaging. The process is entirely organic with no use of machinery and done collectively by the community living along the slopes of the mountain.

Soolkaama helped to document the making process and also the local life of the people involved in producing the coffee beans. We produced several high quality imagery and a few short video clips.

SATNA JAIL – Madhya Pradesh

Soolkaama — Fri, 19 Jun 2020 08:59:27 +0000

Prisoners as weavers

Satna Jail, Madhya Pradesh, India

Collaborated with local village women, prisoners of Satna jail, and a designer duo from Australia to design, develop and document a line of locally produced furnishings. Strategised development of a sustainable model to generate premium income opportunities.

Soolkaama worked with two textile designers from Australia – Trish and Nathan Bygot on this project and together we visited Satna Jail where prisoners are taught to weave rugs made from locally sourced wool. Local women in the village of Ichol, MP then embroidered motifs on them. The motifs were inspired by local designs found in and around the village and which were rooted in the cultural history of the place.

Soolkaama was engaged as a liaison between the designers and the artisans. They worked with the designers to help them document and understand the cultural history of the area. They worked with the artisans to help them realise the economic potential the knowledge they had of their local heritage. Furnishings created during the collaboration were presented in an exhibition in Delhi. They were priced at a premium and were sold out before the end of the 3 day exhibition.

SOUL OF AFRICA – Ethiopia

Soolkaama — Fri, 19 Jun 2020 08:47:38 +0000

Soul of Africa – Ethiopia

Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

Collaborations with local talent, content development, workshops with local talent to ensure continuity of advertising content that is in line with the brand image

Founded by Lance Clark, from the famous Clark Shoes, SoulOfAfrica (SOA) makes shoes in South Africa, Tunisia and Ethiopia, generating much-needed earnings. Run tightly, as an efficient business, it has generated over £481,100 – all transferred to the Soul of Africa Trust that has invested the funds in projects to help almost 18,000 African orphans.

By making African inspired light and flexible shoes in Africa, SOA runs as an efficient social enterprise and invests the profits to create further jobs in the continent and to support local communities.

Soolkaama was contacted by Dulma Clark, the MD of the company to help produce marketing collateral for the brand. Apart from documenting the work she required, we also conducted workshops in the charities supported by Clarks shoes. We taught product photography to young students so that they could continue to produce the content for the company and also earn revenue while doing so. Photography is a difficult business, but when companies are willing to support local talent it can become a source of sustenance and also an exciting vocation for young minds.

KADAM – West Bengal

Soolkaama — Fri, 19 Jun 2020 08:19:09 +0000

KADAM

West Medinipur & Cooch Behar, West Bengal, India

The result was that within a month, the sales for Kadam products shot up and since then they have been able to meet their monthly targets on a consistent basis.

This assignment for Soolkaama was to document the work of Kadam and to assist in the development of marketing content.

The approach in terms of product content creation was to initially understand the uniqueness of products made by Kadam. The products are handmade with locally sourced environmentally conscious materials by women artisan’s living in beautiful villages of India. The effort provides the women a secondary source of sustainable income.

We developed new creatives of Kadam products, revamped the copy for product descriptions to be more in sync with customer expectations and worked with the team to improve the brand image.

Kadam also took onboard the importance of advertising and have started collating creatives from their on-the-ground teams in order to engage with their customer base in a more fulfilling manner.

Creatives developed by Soolkaama

Website – www.kadamindia.org

Creatives that Kadam used before

EXIDE INDUSTRIES CSR – West Bengal

Soolkaama — Fri, 19 Jun 2020 07:43:27 +0000

Exide Industries & Confederation of Indian Industry (CII)

Dhansol, West Bengal, India

Marketing strategy, Advertising strategy, Content development. Branding strategy for local design firm which was an integral part of the project

Soolkaama was commissioned by Exide Industries and CII in the Jhargram Tribal belt of West Bengal to develop branding and marketing collateral for their CSR efforts. We teamed up with the Kolkatta based design firm, Paul Design Centrum and local NGO, Jhargram SEVA, to develop a content strategy. The commission resulted in producing video content, photo content for online campaigns and product images for catalogue printing.

The Jhargram tribal belt is inhabited by the Santhali Tribe. This tribe is listed as a PVTG (Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Group). Decades of civil strife between the Indian government and maoist rebel groups within the forest of this region had left this area severely under developed and the people in the remote villages struggled for years to life without fear for their lives.

But since 2012, the region has experienced stability after the rebels surrendered themselves and reached a peace deal with the government. This CSR effort was to train local village women in new design techniques to produce contemporary products using rope. The villagers have been producing rope using local sabai grass as raw material for several generations. The price they earn for the effort is paltry. With new designs and new products an effort is being made to ensure the women are able to earn a sustainable alternate source of income.

KADAM – Uttar Pradesh

Soolkaama — Fri, 19 Jun 2020 05:09:40 +0000

KADAM

Hardoi, UP, India

Streamlined internal communication process, developed creatives for fund raising activities, produced content for social media, conceptualised strategy to improve brand image, assisted in producing user friendly copy for product descriptions

Soolkaama visited Kadam India’s UP craft center at Hardoi. The task here was to work with the on-ground team to iron out operational challenges. The team is scattered over several craft clusters located in remote regions around the city of Hardoi, UP. Team members do not have the bandwidth to coordinate their work regularly. The miscommunication arising out of it was leading to unnecessary team fatigue and frustration. Soolkaama worked along with Salmaan, the project coordinator, to set up a communication process. We worked on standardising communication parameters and help boost team morale by taking away friction being caused by miscommunications

Soolkaama also documented work being done by Kadam in as many as eight craft clusters to produced creative collateral that the non-profit successfully utilised for several fund raising activities.

Website – www.kadamindia.org

KUMBAYA – Madhya Pradesh

Soolkaama — Fri, 19 Jun 2020 04:02:08 +0000

KUMBAYA

Samaj Pragait Sahayog (SPS), Bagli, MP, India

Branding, Advertising, Content and Catalog management. Workshops on producing creative collateral for marketing using locally available resources. Tools to manage tasks and advertising related activities with existing resources.

Kumbaya is a textile based social venture run by women from one of the most remote, marginalised and economically deprived regions of India. The uniqueness of the venture is the creation of a new craft based skill and employment opportunity in a predominantly agrarian region. Kumbaya has been teaching and employing women to sew fabrics.

Although this region had no cultural history per-se about the craft they were engaged in, the team failed to capitalise on the general heritage of the region and the artistic history of the people who are producing the crafts. As one of the main goals of this venture is empowerment of women and the disabled, most of the stories about brand Kumbaya are around these aspects of their work. While it is important to highlight these stories, it is equally important to present the people as a proud people. The pride lies in history of the people.

Soolkaama worked with the local team and helped them develop processes to manage in-house content development. We also helped create a structure to better understand the brand proposition. This aided in creation of a messaging strategy that was true to the ethos of the brand. The messaging strategy enabled the team to put in place an advertising plan they could execute without external help.