When Craft Meets Conservation: Godawan Blends Jaipur Blue Pottery with Storytelling for the Great Indian Bustard

A Handcrafted Ode to World Wildlife Week

In an era dominated by instant digital content and rapid campaign turnarounds, Godawan Estuary Premium Water has taken a bold, traditional route to highlight wildlife preservation. Released in celebration of World Wildlife Week, the brand’s latest stop-motion short film puts the endangered Great Indian Bustard—locally known as the Godawan—at the heart of a visual masterpiece that weaves together ecological conservation, artisan heritage, and Rajasthani culture.

Created in collaboration with Studio Eeksaurus and conceptualised by Omnicom Advertising India agencies (22feet and McCann India), the project brings over 100 artists, animators, and local craftspeople together to turn traditional art into a medium for awareness.

5,200 Ceramic Pieces & 15,000 Hours of Artisan Labor

The defining element of the campaign lies in its extraordinary visual production. Inspired by Rajasthan’s famed Jaipur Blue Pottery, the production team hand-crafted, individually arranged, and photographed over 5,200 ceramic pieces.

Combining stop-motion techniques, 2D animation, and live-action sequences, the production spanned more than eight months and required over 15,000 hours of labor. The result is a tactile, human-centric narrative that parallels the patience required in wildlife conservation.

"At a time when almost anything can be created in seconds, we chose to take the time to make this by hand. That human touch is what this story of conservation needed." — Ruchira Jaitly, Chief Marketing Officer, Diageo India

A Legacy of Purpose-Driven Initiatives

This film marks the latest milestone in Godawan’s long-term commitment to saving the Great Indian Bustard:

• 2022: Initiation of Godawan’s core conservation support programs.
• 2023: Launch of the Godawan 100 campaign to commemorate the bird's surviving population reaching 100.
• 2024: Introduction of Durbar, an experiential platform celebrating Rajasthan’s regional music, culinary heritage, and local crafts.
• 2025: Release of Godawan 173: The Collector’s Edition, featuring 173 individually crafted bottles inspired by Jaipur Blue Pottery to mark the growing population of 173 birds.
• 2026: Projection of the conservation story onto Delhi's historic Qutub Minar on World Environment Day, followed by this stop-motion cinematic launch.

Folk Symphony: Sound Design by Oscar & Grammy Winners

The film's audio landscape matches the scale of its visual artistry. The original score draws heavily from Rajasthani folk traditions, featuring indigenous instruments such as the Ravanahatha and the Morchang.

The composition was brought to life by a power trio of Indian music stalwarts:

• Resul Pookutty (Oscar-winning Sound Designer)
• Taufiq Qureshi (Grammy-winning Percussionist)
• Rajat Dholakia (National Award-winning Composer)

Industry Leaders Reflect on the Campaign

Suresh Eriyat (Co-founder & Director, Studio Eeksaurus) highlighted the shared ethos of craft and conservation: "There was a cause, an art form on the edge of disappearing, and a bird almost nobody had seen... The ceramics, the filmmaking process—all of it was built for this one story, and it asked for patience at every step, the same patience it takes to protect an egg or rebuild a population."

Rahul Mathew (Chief Creative Officer, McCann India) emphasized the community effort involved: "We’ve heard the adage ‘It takes a village to raise a child’. It’s especially true when it comes to conservation of the Godawan... To tell the story of the Godawan and its conservation using the medium of Jaipur Blue Pottery was painstaking, but also very rewarding."