Grey Group and Axis Bank Join Forces to Champion Indian Sign Language

India is one of the most diverse countries in the world in many aspects, and one of them is the number of languages spoken here. The most interesting and exciting part of India's diversified linguistic culture is that languages change every few kilometres.

To celebrate this distinct nature of the country, Axis Bank launched a heart-warming campaign #23in23 that acknowledges the one language that Indians speak across borders: The Indian Sign Language. According to the 8th schedule of the Indian Constitution, there are only 22 recognised languages in India. The campaign aims to get the Indian Sign Language officially recognised as the 23rd language in 2023.

The campaign was conceptualized by GREY Group, produced by Dora Digs, and directed by Puneet Prakash.

As a part of the ongoing campaign, Axis Bank, with the help of translation by Harshal Hariyani, has also re-released their latest films in sign language as they believe that communication should be inclusive to everyone. It is the first time an Indian brand has created a practice of translating their brand communication into sign language. 

Nishanth Ananthram, ECD, and Atul Pathak, ACD, Grey, Bangalore, said: when we discovered that there is one language commonly spoken in all places in India - the Indian Sign language, we wanted to capture this diverse linguistic culture for the campaign. When we met sign language expert, Mr. Sitaram Chavan, he mentioned that every Indian speaks the Indian Sign Language daily to communicate, which sparked the idea for the campaign.

Anusha Shetty, chairman & group CEO, GREY group India, said: #23in23 is not just a campaign, but a plea to the Government to recognize the Indian Sign Language as the 23rd recognized language of India.