2015 Winners & Shortlists

The Campaign

Polio, the highly infectious viral disease was back in the region. Totally eradicated from Lebanon over 15 years ago, the threat of polio was quickly creeping back into Lebanon due to the influx of Syrian refugees, by the millions into the country. Together with UNICEF, WHO, and the Ministry of Public Health, we launched a National Campaign. The solution was simple, 2 drops of vaccine for every child under 5. The challenge was how to get to every single child in the country. We knew that only the strongest of voices could make it happen. So we reached out to the true leaders: Mothers! We built them into our advocates actively protecting their children, the future of our nation: A Mother who protects a Child, protects a Nation. An immediate series of large-scale, synchronized immunization activities took place all over the country calling for the oral polio vaccine.

Success of the Campaign

Drop by drop UNICEF vaccinated children all over Lebanon exceeding the target of 550,000 children, making the eradication campaign a huge success and Lebanon safe from Polio! The client was impressed with the campaign’s value in terms of free media (campaign worth of 4,331,619$), PR coverage (89 placements with a total reach of 7,096,814), social reach (Recruitment of 17,912 fans and reach of over 3,000,000 users in 2 months’ time). The Facebook page and the website became the go-to platforms for Lebanese to seek information, interact and encourage their peers to vaccinate their children. 2 TVCs were created and promoted on TV, Youtube and all UNICEF’ and Nancy Ajram social channels with +80,000 aggregate views. Several on-ground recreational days rallied more than 3,000 kids who played and got vaccinated. Results: 1) 96% of targeted kids were vaccinated (Source: MoPH), 2) 80% awareness of the campaign across all populations (Source: WHO)

Describe how the campaign/entry was launched and executed across each channel in the order of implementation.

A National ATL campaign, including TV, OOH, press, radio and digital media, empowered mothers of all classes, all education levels and across all the country. We also collaborated with UNICEF’s Goodwill Ambassador, Lebanese star Nancy Ajram, also a mother, to help us raise awareness around Polio and ask mothers to vaccinate their children like she did. The campaign was supported by an informative website, on ground activations targeting mothers and communities’ influential people. An interactive conversation was initiated on the social media portals creating direct engagement with bloggers and the overall target. A strategic media relation approach launched by a press conference and a national media educational workshop, reached influencers and opinion leaders to communicate the vaccination call for action. The campaign dominated the entire media & social scene through News reports and TV shows creating an interactive discussion, reaching out to more than 20 million people!