2015 Winners & Shortlists

The Brief

We’ve been working on Picon’s CSR campaign for a few years now; and it has evolved dramatically from where we started. We never wanted something traditional, and since our primary target were kids, we started by taking over numerous schools’ civic education course and integrating our own program. As the project involved, the kids’ role in the program increased so we were able to engage them fully. This year, seeing that the country has been incredibly mismanaged by adults, we decided to give kids the chance to take matters into their own hands to make the country a better place.

Creative Execution

We engaged kids in schools, and online. We were able to reach them on a grand scale and have them interact with the brand on many levels. The brand is so rooted in Lebanon’s culture that it made sense for it to be the catalyst of change for the kids. This was the first time a brand went beyond traditional CSR in the country by empowering its core target to stand for a positive change.

Describe the creative solution to the brief/objective.

We launched the initiative through workshops that teach kids about Sustainable Development in general. We then encouraged the kids to come up with ideas to improve their regions; the ideas had to meet certain criteria, but most importantly, had to be sustainable. The kids submitted their ideas and a jury shortlisted the best ones, which were put online for a vote. Each region submitted ideas, and the winning idea per region was implemented. Our primary goal was to engage the kids, making them understand that they can truly make a difference, renewing their belief in a positive future for the country.

Results

We chose the winning project per region to implement: • Beirut: the kids created the first and only bicycle lane in Lebanon • North: the kids built a park as they were lacking green spaces in that area • South: the kids inaugurated a bus line serving 15 previously isolated rural villages • Bekaa: the kids prepared and painted 140 recycling cans for schools and set up a recycling process in their area through the cans The results were great: • 1,000 kids became brand ambassadors for the project • 50 schools participated • 3,000 people voted online • 4 big projects were completed