Ahmadabad girl in top 10 finalist list for Viber Sticky Fingers campaign
Indian artist, Sunakshi Puri’s creative sticker ‘Flub’ makes it to the top 10 most voted entries across the globe in Viber’s Sticky Fingers campaign launched in March this year in partnership with Talenthouse. ‘Sticky Fingers’ is a worldwide talent search campaign to find the next Viber sticker artist. The two month long campaign, targeted at the design community across the virtual world, received over 2500 entries out of which more than 350 entries poured in from India. Out of the entries received, Sunakshi Puri’s ‘Flub’ sticker made it to the top 10 finalist entries.
The first Phase of campaign kick started in March 2015 and received more than 2500 entries across the globe making it the Number #1 brand campaign by Talenthouse. As the second phase of campaign, audiences were invited to vote for their favourite stickers. The campaign fetched votes in numbers higher than anticipated across the world. Basis the votes, top 10 finalists were chosen by a Viber panel which included Erez Shocher, Viber’s Creative Director, and Mark Hardy, Viber's Chief Marketing Officer. Amongst the top 10 highest voted entries, Flub by Sunakshi Puri is India’s maiden entry on 8th spot.
Stickers are a core part of Viber’s personality and millions of people worldwide use them in conversations every day to express an emotion, a reaction, a statement or simply to share good vibes with their friends and families. The search for the ‘Sticky Fingers’ mascot is the first in a series of creative briefs inviting talented artists to see their designs come to life in collaboration with the Viber Design Studio.
On the announcement of the Top 10 talents, Anubhav Nayyar, Country Head, Viber India said, “We are very pleased with the fact that an Indian entry has marked its place on a globally competitive platform. The success of the campaign also gives us immense confidence to launch more such campaigns and contests in the future.”
As the last leg of the campaign rolls out, the 10 highest voted entries will receive a financial grant to support the designers’ creative journeys. One Selected Artist, will work with and be mentored by Viber Design Studio to turn their ‘Sticky Fingers’ character into a fully developed commercial Sticker Pack. These will be sold on Viber’s Sticker Market and the Selected Artist will receive a share of revenue every time their Sticker Pack is bought/downloaded. Their talent will also be showcased around the world as it will be amplified via Viber and Talenthouse’s social media channels.
Anubhav stated, “Our design team had a really tough time selecting the top 10 for the Viber Sticky Fingers competition. The finalists were decided on the basis of the uniqueness and likability of their character, precision of design and fit with Viber's quality. The Indian entry stands tall besides the other winning entries from Russia, Portugal, Ukraine, Sweden and Spain. The International appeal of the character was also key in ensuring it makes the cut."
Sunakshi Puri’s creative sticker ‘Flub’ makes it to the top 10 most voted entries across the globe in Viber’s Sticky Fingers campaign. Sunakshi is a 22 year resident of Bhopal currently studying in Ahmedabad, she is in her final semester of Animation Film Design at National Institute of Design, Ahmedabad. Besides sketching and animating, She is enjoys music and cooking especially baking cakes.
On asking Puri about what inspired her to create Flub, she replied, “My whole idea for creating Flub was to keep it neutral that everybody can relate to it. When you put a person or an animal, it immediately has a gender, a nationality and a taste. I tried to keep it as simple as just a ball of fur. You don't judge whether it’s a guy or a girl or where it belongs somewhere, all people should care about is what it's trying to express. Also, the combination of cute and creepy isn't always seen before, so I thought that would be something new for the audience. This was just a rough attempt at the character, and if I get selected, it would be a brilliant opportunity to work on it more and make it even more likeable!”
