2009 Winners & Shortlists

Results and Effectiveness

Bloggers online adopted the campaign. Articles appeared in the press. It became the talk of the town and many adopted the “Khede Kasra” phrase in their everyday conversations. The campaign sparked debates and roundtables about women regulations in the Lebanese judicial system. All in all, awareness on gender inequality

Creative Execution

The campaign was typographic and minimalistic in nature. This served to accentuate the red “kasra”, which became the bold symbol of women empowerment. An outdoor teaser campaign demonstrated how all men and women read words as being automatically addressed to men. The “kasra” accents on revealers twisted their meanings. This concept was translated into a TVC, reaching the masses during popular Lebanese shows. It was also adapted to radio. Since radio is an audio medium, we wanted to use situations in which the written word directed to males is actually spoken. Typically recorded automated telephone messages were used. To reach the country geographically and all women demographically, a moving interactive billboard as well as posters were set up, whilst stickers were distributed, in rural and upscale areas, to engage the public and physically get them involved. The campaign also hit the digital circuit, through emails, Youtube, and Facebook, reaching the Lebanese internet population

Insights, Strategy and the Idea

The Hariri Foundation wanted to address the imbalance of gender roles in Lebanese society, through their “Women Empowerment Program”. The Agency chose to tackle gender inequality by challenging the premises on which people’s daily vocabulary is based. Spoken and written words in the media which would otherwise be addressed to men by default, were altered with a “kasra” accent, to address them to women instead. This was extremely relevant to the client which had been heavily researching the depiction of women in the media. With a call for action line that encouraged women to “make your mark”, the target audience that included every Lebanese woman from every possible demographic, was inspired by such a simple idea. The meaning behind literally changing the word empowered them to actually change their reality with their own hands.