2015 Winners & Shortlists

NOT A BUG SPLAT

Bronze

Case Film

Presentation Board

BrandREPRIEVE / FOUNDATION FOR FUNDAMENTAL RIGHTS
Product/ServiceDRONE STRIKES COLLATERAL DAMAGE AWARENESS
EntrantBBDO PAKISTAN Lahore, PAKISTAN
CategoryPosters
Entrant Company BBDO PAKISTAN Lahore, PAKISTAN
Advertising Agency BBDO PAKISTAN Lahore, PAKISTAN

Brief Explanation

Drone operators routinely describe their casualties as 'Bug Splats' since viewing humans from far above gives the sense of an insect being crushed. The challenge was to reduce this distance between the predator and the victim, and to create some sort of a dialogue between them in the hopes of creating empathy. Our strategy was to not only address pilots directly and create dialogue, but to also raise awareness globally of this otherwise ignored human-rights issue.

The Brief

Since 2004, drone strikes in Pakistan have killed an estimated 3500+ people, a disturbing percentage of which have been innocent civilians. Including more than 200 children. The Foundation for Fundamental Rights has been working to raise awareness of this crisis, but most protests in Pakistan go unnoticed. Our task was to come up with work that would not only be noticed on a global scale, but resonate with our target.

How the final design was conceived

We decided to speak directly to drone operators. A large-scale portrait of a child affected by an attack, was laid on the ground facing up in the heavily bombed area of NorthWestern Pakistan, so a drone camera could capture and transmit it directly to an operator's screen, thereby engaging them in a dialogue. The photograph used was of a child who lost her parents and sibling to a drone strike. To raise awareness, the poster - part of French artist JR's Inside Out movement - was put online with the hashtag #NotABugSplat and a website with information about drone strikes.

Indication of how successful the outcome was in the market

We went viral overnight around the world. Thousands of tweets, dozens of blogs, and massive coverage in the world press spread awareness rapidly. 104 million impressions in the news and 11 million impressions on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram helped us gain $2,000,000+ in earned media. The news was tweeted by members of National Assembly of Pakistan, who have raised the issue of drone strikes with the International Court of Justice. Rights activists in Yemen and the USA have now picked up the campaign for their protests. And a new US Government Accountability report indicates that negative publicity is affecting pilot morale.

The FFR is an organisation of attorneys and socially active individuals working towards the advancement, protection and enforcement of fundamental human rights. FFR represent those who have been denied their rights to due process due to drone strikes in Pakistan. The budget for the campaign was under $1500, all of which was donated, so the total cost to the client came to $0. The work was installed in an actual drone operation zone by local villagers themselves.

Credits

Name Company Role
Assam Khalid BBDO Pakistan Planning Director
Aamir Allibhoy BBDO Pakistan General Manager
Ali Rez BBDO Pakistan Creative Director/Concept
Saks Afridi Artist
Akash Goel Coordinator
Insiya Syed Insiya Syed Photography Photographer
Jamil Akhtar Photographer
Imran Arif Khan Photographer
J R Photographer/Artist
Noor Behram Photographer
Sana Nasir Illustrator
Qasim Nagori 18% Grey Photography Retoucher
Farooq Niaz Producer
Ovais Suhail Producer
Zeeshan Parwez Zeepar Editor
Faisal Durrani BBDO Pakistan Deputy General Manager
Sohaib Zahid Umar BBDO Pakistan Planning Manager
Ali Rez BBDO Pakistan Art Director
Aurangzaib Zafar Beyond Border Editor
Brave New Films Additional company