Story of a campaign: The billboard that lived, and died, with purpose

For Chupps Footwear, INTO Creative crafted India’s first fully biodegradable billboard, a piece of communication that disintegrated exactly as intended. Santosh ‘Paddy’ Padhi, Founder & Chief Creative Officer of INTO Creative, takes us behind the idea, the craft and the message. 

When a billboard built from bamboo, clay and hay collapsed under an unexpected burst of Mumbai rain this October, it didn’t mark the end of a campaign, it marked the point of completion. For Chupps Footwear, the biodegradable installation wasn’t designed to withstand nature; it was designed to return to it. For Santosh ‘Paddy’ Padhi, the creative force behind the idea, the billboard’s disintegration was the final line of a story that began with a simple belief: if the product biodegrades, the communication should too. 

The campaign, executed at Mumbai’s Bandstand, directly opposite Shah Rukh Khan’s residence, became one of the most widely discussed outdoor innovations of the season. But behind its poetic fall was a long process of experimentation, problem-solving, and creative conviction. 

When Chupps briefed INTO Creative on its new biodegradable footwear range, Paddy immediately identified the opportunity. “Chupps came to us as one of the first retainer clients of our new agency, and their product was genuinely breakthrough,” he recalls. “They were launching a biodegradable series that disintegrates in 18–24 months. I told them, if this is your differentiator, your communication must live and die like your product does.” That thought became the foundation of the idea, a billboard that wouldn’t just advertise biodegradation but demonstrate it. 

Turning the concept into reality, however, required reimagining what an outdoor structure could be. Paddy and his team set out to build a billboard that contained no metal, no synthetic material, and no conventional support. The frame was constructed entirely of bamboo and wood, while the face of the board was formed from layers of clay, hay, sand and sawdust, materials chosen both for integrity and impermanence. The 20×10 ft installation was placed on an exposed patch of land facing the sea, adding complexity to the engineering. “We had to predict wind patterns, create air cut-outs behind the clay surface, and keep the structure light enough to collapse naturally but strong enough to stand for a while,” Paddy says. 

The installation was hand-built over several days, with an artist working through the nights to apply and reapply mud layers that would not hold shape easily. “The lower section kept slipping, it was being sculpted directly on site, by hand,” he adds. 

Though designed to last approximately three weeks, the billboard had other plans. On October 16, Mumbai received an unexpected spell of heavy rain. In just 40 minutes, the structure began to disintegrate, leaving behind only the bamboo skeleton. “It happened faster than we anticipated, but it was beautiful,” Paddy says. “It lived out its purpose exactly the way it was meant to.” 

The creative agency had anticipated the possibility and documented the entire process. Footage of the billboard dissolving became a powerful storytelling asset, adding authenticity and virality that no static impression metric could replicate. 

Paddy credits the outcome not only to craft but also to the client’s courage. “The Chupps team backed the idea fully,” he says. “They wanted to build a brand that is desirable but also responsible. When the client believes in the idea as much as the agency does, you can push boundaries.” 

Beyond the installation, INTO Creative developed a full 360-degree campaign around the biodegradable narrative, from print and digital to short films and influencer outreach. “We created dissolving footwear visuals, mud-made slippers for Diwali mailers, and content that demonstrated biodegradation in real time,” Paddy shares. An upcoming film, co-directed by Paddy, continues the bold positioning. 

For him, the campaign’s success cannot be captured through traditional OOH KPIs. “We didn’t chase numbers,” he says. “We knew Bandstand has high traffic. But more importantly, we wanted people to feel something. Today the conversation has become too data-obsessed, but creativity is a human exercise. This campaign proved that when you follow intuition and conviction, the work speaks for itself.” 

What began as a brand brief became a poetic act of communication. A billboard made of earth returned to the earth, not despite the rain, but because of it. “Sustainability isn’t a claim,” Paddy says. “It’s proof. And this campaign was proof.” 

For a piece of outdoor work that chose to live and die unapologetically, its afterlife continues, carried forward not by steel or screen but by the conversations it sparked.