The archive · Marketing & Growth · Marketing decision · 2025–2026
Nerolac cools temple paths for barefoot pilgrims with heat-reflective paint
Nerolac coated South Indian temple walkways with Perma NoHeat, cutting surface heat by up to 15°C — the demo as the ad won Abby 2026's only Media Grand Prix.
Kansai Nerolac Paints · Tribes Communication
What it had to solve
Nerolac Perma NoHeat is an acrylic, heat-reflective exterior coating, but its benefit is invisible in a conventional ad. In peak Indian summer, temple paths grow hot enough to burn barefoot devotees' feet, giving the brand a real place to prove itself.
How it works
Kansai Nerolac makes Perma NoHeat, an acrylic heat-reflective exterior coating, but its selling point — cooler surfaces — is hard to show in a conventional ad. In India's summer, millions of pilgrims walk barefoot on temple paths that scorch their feet, a discomfort the product could genuinely fix.
Tribes Communication's 'Barefoot Journey — The Coolest Seva' skipped conventional product advertising. The agency coated walkways at several temples across South India with Perma NoHeat during peak summer heat, reportedly cutting surface temperatures by up to 15°C, then let devotees walk on the treated stone.
The intervention doubled as the campaign: pilgrims experienced the benefit directly, and the sensory proof travelled as word of mouth and earned coverage. Chairman Gour Gupta said the idea was 'never designed as an advertising stunt' but came from the truth that the strongest communication is what people experience themselves.
At Goafest 2026 the work won the only Media Grand Prix across all categories — the first for an independent Indian network — and helped make Tribes one of the most awarded independents of the festival.
Why it lands
- The product's benefit was unshowable in an ad, so the campaign put the coating where the pain actually was — temple paths — making the proof physical.
- Barefoot pilgrims became the audience and the evidence at once: no model, no CGI, no claim to explain.
- The temple setting made the intervention culturally intuitive — relief for devotees — rather than a branded stunt.
- Hyper-local media thinking scaled through earned coverage, which is why the jury gave it the festival's only Media Grand Prix.
What it did
The treated paths gave barefoot devotees immediate relief and made the product benefit tangible; the work won the only Media Grand Prix at ABBY 2026 — a first for an independent Indian network — and Tribes collected a Gold, five Silvers and four Bronzes that day.
What you can take
When the claim is a sensation, don't describe it — stage it where the audience already suffers: the product demo becomes the media, and experience replaces persuasion.
Since then
The Barefoot Journey was the standout of Goafest 2026's opening day: the only Media Grand Prix across categories and a first for an independent Indian network, with Tribes also taking a Gold, five Silvers and four Bronzes. Industry coverage framed it as proof that Indian independents can build globally competitive work rooted in culture and empathy; Nerolac got a demonstration of Perma NoHeat that no print ad could deliver.
Sources
- Tribes Communication bags Media Grand Prix at ABBY Awards 2026
- Goafest 2026: Tribes Communications wins the sole Grand Prix on Day 1
- Tribes Communications wins Media Grand Prix at ABBY Awards 2026 for Kansai Nerolac Campaign
spotted an error? The archive wants to know.
Your turn
You just read one. Describe the brief you are staring at, and see who has been given the same problem.
Free account · 3 free questions · no card