Here at SikhNet we are very excited about our first feature animation. You probably saw all of our promotions leading up to the film. So, how much impact did 1 year of work end up having? We wanted to share that with you. Here is our report on the impact of KAUR.
KAUR Has a Significant Impact on People's Lives
So far the KAUR film was downloaded from our website almost 50,000 times. It has received over 30,000 YouTube views to date. It was watched about 6,000 times on Facebook and got 4,530 likes. We are happy with these numbers, which will surely continue to increase (thank you for sharing!) but they don't begin to tell the whole story...
(These numbers are as of April 21, 2015)
We have heard from teachers that Khalsa schools have shared the video with hundreds of students.
Of the downloads we don't know how many times people are rewatching the film offline. We don't know how many people are watching the film with their family and friends.
Sikh Channel has been broadcasting the film in the United Kingdom, Europe and Canada. Sangat TV in the UK has also aired the program. SikhNet extends our deepest gratitude to these Sikh broadcast channels for sharing KAUR with their viewers.
Several sevadars stepped up to translate the script into their native languages, so that KAUR could debut with multiple subtitles: Mandarin Chinese, Hindi, Punjabi, German, Finnish, Portuguese, and Spanish.
We Worked with A Lot of Partners
We started promoting the film heavily in February for a March 3 launch. The idea was to highlight Mai Bhago and KAUR in celebration of International Women's Day, and hopefully propel the film and Mai Bhago's story beyond the Sikh realm. We reached out to websites and individuals to help promote the film. We launched the trailer which got a lot of views on YouTube, and lots of buzz on Facebook.
The story of Mai Bhago and KAUR reached beyond the Sikh community when AMightyGirl.com, RejectedPrincesses.com, the Ms. Magazine blog and Amy Poehler's Smart Girls picked it up.
We are grateful to the following organizations and individuals who enjoyed KAUR and chose to talk about it through their social networks:
Sikh Coalition , Simran Jeet Singh, SALDEF, Major Kamal Singh Kalsi, SAFAR, Kaur Thoughts, The National Sikh Campaign, A Mighty Girl (very popular girls empowerment website), Rejectedpricnesses.com, Kundalini Research Institute, 3HO - Healthy Happy Holy Organization, Miri Piri Academy – They also did a screening for some of their students, Sikh Dharma InternationalMajor Kamal Singh Kalsi wrote a wonderful article about Mai Bhago and KAUR that we publishing on SikhNet. Jason Porath from RejectedPrincesses.com did some fan art and even created a video of him making the drawing. He was already familiar with Mai Bhago from having previously drawn her as his #11 Rejected Princess.
PR campaign resulted in press about KAUR and/or Mai Bhago in the following places:
- Ms. Magazine Blog – carried an article about Mai Bhago for International Women’s Day.
- Amy Poehler’s Smart Girls picked up and shared the article on their Facebook page – which has 865,000 likes.
- Times of India reported the story in two different articles.
- Hindustan Times reported on KAUR on-line and in print.
- Sikh24.com covered the story.
- India.com interviewed us for a story.
- Two independent Punjabi Radio stations contacted SikhNet for live interviews in the days leading up to the release. KRPI Radio out of Ferndale, Washington and Vancouver, BC, and Gaunda Punjab BBC Toronto.
We put a lot of work into the film so seeing all of these
different media channels
picking it up was very gratifying.
different media channels picking it up was very gratifying.
Numbers can't encapsulate the personal impact of KAUR's message. The impact is in our hearts. Please read some of the testimonials about the film from our facebook post.
"Superb. You did an excellent job. I thoroughly enjoyed this. I am a Christian, but I have shared it in my FB. God bless. -Julie Heiland
Grrrrrreat! I wanted to be an astronaut as a young girl, and the men said, "We don't think women can fly." And I said, "Haven't you heard of Amelia Earhart?" - Kathi Sabot
"Beautiful - not only for women but men also. Congratulations, keep it up." - Bhupi Singh
"I watched the whole film with rapt attention! I will be sharing with my daughter as well!" - Tony Ban
"Absolutely amazing! Every woman needs to rekindle her faith in herself and reignite her passion to live the life of her dreams! This will inspire not only women, but also men to embrace courage and follow the heart. When we truly believe in our own divine nature and innate strength, anything is possible. And the Guru is always there to guide us :)The most brilliant message of this movie was that, "The Guru bestowed EQUALITY upon us, and it is now incumbent on us to CLAIM IT". Waheguru Ji Ka Khalsa Waheguru Ki Fateh." - Manprit Kaur