India’s first multi-media ad campaign rolled out in 1939 and it was totally offline. It promoted a vanaspati ghee brand once familiar to every Indian kitchen – Dalda. It was executed by Lintas for the Lever Brothers (later Hindustan Unilever), who then owned the brand.
1/6
The Dalda ad campaign involved sending a round, tin-shaped van to roam the streets; screening a short film in cinemas; roadside stalls where people could sample the product; roadside stalls selling tasty snacks cooked in Dalda; print ads; and leaflets for distribution.
2/6
#DidYouKnow that the Dalda ad campaign of the ‘30s & ‘40s roped in wandering storytellers in India’s villages, where they talked about the vanaspati brand and its benefits? Talk about smart product placement!
3/6

#MakingofModernIndia
Vanaspati (hydrogenated vegetable cooking oil/fat, usually made from palm oil) was aggressively promoted as a cheaper but equally tasty alternative to ghee (clarified butter). It was a new concept and, thanks to the innovative marketing campaign, it caught on quickly.
4/6
#DidYouKnow that the Dutch introduced vanaspati to India in the ’30s and called it ‘Dada’ after the company that imported it? The Lever Brothers bought the brand and started producing it locally. They added an ‘L’ (for Lever) to the name – and thus ‘Dalda’ was born in 1937.
5/6
The Dalda brand is not owned by Hindustan Unilever any longer – it was bought by Bunge India Pvt Ltd in 2003 – but the Lever brothers have left an enduring ‘L’ for ‘Legacy’!
6/6

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More from @LiveHIndia

14 Mar
Sound is one of the primary elements of cinema and, ushering in the ‘talkies’ era to Indian cinema was the movie Alam Ara. The film released #onthisday in 1931 at Majestic Theatre in Bombay and was such a hit that police had to control the crowds.
1/4 Image
Alam Ara (Ornament of the World) was directed by Ardeshir Irani, who also produced India’s first colour film Kisan Kanya (1937). Based on a play of the same name written by a Bombay-based Jewish dramatist, it revolved around an ageing king and his two rival queens.
2/4 Image
The cast of India’s first ‘talkie’, Alam Ara, was led by Zubeida, Master Vithal and Prithviraj Kapoor. Unlike the silent era, where actors of foreign descent were often cast, Alam Ara needed actors who were fluent in Hindustani, the language in which the film was made.
3/4 Image
Read 4 tweets
23 Feb
Her parents called her ‘Mumtaz Jehan Begum Dehalvi’ but the world knew her as the ‘Marilyn Monroe of India’. Her screen name was simply ‘Madhubala’, the most celebrated star in Hindi cinema in the ’50s and ’60s and whose 52nd death anniversary falls #OTD.

#MakingofModernIndia
Madhubala was so beautiful it drove her co-stars to distraction. Shammi Kapoor said of their time on the sets of ‘Rail Ka Dibba’: “I was so nervous that I kept forgetting my lines. She was fully aware of the effect she had been having on me and was relishing it thoroughly.”
2/6
Enchanted by her, popular Greek singer Stelios Kazantzidis dedicated a hugely popular song to her. He titled it ‘Mantoubala’:
“I wish I could see you and then die, my dear
My soul wants only this
Since I lost you, I’m melting
I cry out your name with pain
Madhubala, Madhubala”
Read 6 tweets
3 Jun 20
"A 100 yards of it can pass through the eye of the needle, so fine is its texture, and yet the point of the steel needle can’t pierce through it easily. It is so transparent & light that it looks as if one is in no dress at all but has only smeared the body with pure water"
(1/4)
This is how the 14th-century Sufi poet and scholar Amir Khusrau described the almost invisible but highly valued cotton fabric, Dhaka muslin, in his text Nihayatul-Kamaal (The Height of Wonders) in the 1320s. Under the Mughals, the weavers received royal patronage.
(2/4)
It was referred to in poetic terms like abi-rawan (flowing water), baft-hawa (woven air) and shabnam (evening dew). It became one of the most lucrative exports with the best valued at 1600 silver pence - the longer the length and lighter the weight, the higher the price.
(3/4)
Read 4 tweets
19 May 20
The Great Exhibition was held in 1851. A special Crystal Palace was created in London's Hyde Park. It was sponsored by Queen Victoria and Prince Albert and the theme was 'Works of Industry of all Nations'. India was gifted 30,000 sq.ft of exhibition space. One of the exhibits was
The Ivory Throne gifted to the Queen by the Raja of Travancore to demonstrate the skills of his craftsmen. The densely-carved elephant-ivory plaques incorporate Indian and European motifs, and the conch-shell emblem of Travancore forms the cresting. Another exhibit was
The howdah presented to Queen by the Nawab Nazim of Bengal. The stuffed elephant was on loan from Saffron Walden Museum in Essex. In the background, you can also see the embroidered muslin from Dhaka! However, the exhibit which was the center of attraction was
Read 5 tweets
22 Feb 20
The Harappans tend to dominate any conversation about the early history of the Indian subcontinent but the truth is, there were many other ancient cultures that existed before, during and after the Harappans.
The story of these often forgotten ‘others’.
livehistoryindia.com/history-of-ind…
AHAR-BANAS CULTURE (3000–1900 BCE)South-Eastern Rajasthan
Among the earliest Chalcolithic cultures of India, 100+ sites, mostly along the Banas River valley that flows in Raj and tributary of Chambal River further east. Named after the site ‘Ahar’, where it was first discovered
GANESHWAR - JODHPURA CULTURE (2500 BCE)
Developing not very far from the Ahar culture was the Ganeshwar-Jodhpura culture in North-Eastern Rajasthan, the richest Chalcolithic culture vis-a-vis copper.
In pic: Copper objects excavated from Ganeshwar
Read 11 tweets

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