2015 Winners & Shortlists

The Campaign

Polio is an incurable disease that paralyses children’s bodies. Recently children in Syria began to be paralyzed by polio & due to the influx of millions of Syrian refugees; we had to stop it from getting into Lebanon! To firewall Lebanon against polio, UNICEF planned a National Immunization Campaign to vaccinate every child under five with OPV. Eradicated from Lebanon over the past 15 years, Polio was forgotten along with its terrible effects. This is why 75% of Lebanese were unwilling to participate in the campaign. We needed to change that perception fast and we needed to partner with the only Power that could help us protect the country: Mothers! We reached out to them as main stakeholder and built them into true advocates actively contributing in the country protection. We partnered with the Ministry of Public Health encouraging mothers to take control of their children’s health by vaccinating them. 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, documentaries & field reports, social engagements all headed by a strategic media relation approach reaching influencers and opinion leaders to communicate the vaccination call for action. Drop by drop UNICEF vaccinated over 1 million children in Lebanon exceeding the initial target of 550,000 children making the eradication campaign a huge success and Lebanon safe from Polio!

The Brief

A research with stakeholders (parents, pediatricians and media) confirmed our assumptions: -Most parents think that polio campaigns should target poor societies and refugees. There was a huge lack of awareness, underestimation of its dangers and how it is transmitted. -Parents (mothers precisely) solely trust their pediatricians when it comes to their child health -Parents don’t trust or respond to a UNICEF call for action. -Most pediatricians don’t recommend the OPV because it is a Live virus -Polio as a topic never interested the media

Results

The ‘Polio Immunization Drive’ vaccinated 55000 children in Lebanon, exceeding the initial target of 55000 making the eradication campaign a huge success. We dominated the entire media scene through News reports, TV shows and prime time talk shows reaching up to more than 7,096,814 people. Social Media allowed direct interaction with a total reach of 13,905,000 people! The advertising campaign touched and reached 66% of our target enforcing therefore the message and call for action spread. The campaign generated more than 152 reports and interviews across top tier print, broadcast and online mediums leading to a national interest of the cause hence increasing campaign’s reach and number of vaccination. We were able to grow the Facebook community to 18,000 followers in one month. We received a lot of feedback and questions from mothers seeking support on vaccination rounds and sites and we were able to engage/ support and help.

Execution

We partnered with Ministry of Health, Pediatric Societies to launch the campaign encouraging mothers to take control of their children’s health. Media polio educational workshops were set making journalist ambassadors part of the solution towards eradication. In the awareness TV spot, we partnered with UNICEF’s Goodwill Ambassador Lebanese star Nancy Ajram – who is also a mother. She enforced the emotional connection, requesting mothers to vaccinate their children like she did. Documentaries on polio and field reports from different vaccination sites were produced and dispatched to the media. We engaged simultaneously with mothers by activating daily essentials using “on-pack stickers” that were attached to bags of bread, water bottles, milk and diapers. On the media relations forefront, we reached out to opinion leaders who tackled polio and the importance of vaccination. An interactive conversation was initiated on the social portals creating direct engagement with bloggers and the overall target.

The Situation

Polio has been eradicated from the Lebanon for almost 15 years and more, and thus it is not seen as an important issue. People do not remember polio and its terrible, lifelong effects; therefore there is not enough fear of the virus! A recent survey conducted by UNICEF showed that 75% of Lebanese were unwilling to participate in the immunization campaign because they considered their children to be “already vaccinated” while 90% said they would not come for vaccination considering their children safe and not at risk!

The Strategy

Children are the future of every nation; they are the symbol of hope of a better life. With polio coming back, we needed to raise a regional alarm in order to unite the one single strong force that can guarantee the eradication of Polio in Lebanon: Mothers! We decided to empower mothers to secure Lebanon's future today! We reached out to them as main stakeholder and built them into true advocates actively contributing in the protection of children, thus protecting the country. Mothers should vaccinate their children with the polio oral drops every round. “A Mother who protects a Child, protects a Nation.Don’t wait too long, give them the drops”