2016 Winners & Shortlists

Brief Explanation

Bou Khalil is one of Lebanon’s leading supermarkets, with 11 supermarkets across the country. Having opened in 1935, it is the country’s oldest supermarket chain and pledges “generations of care”. Additionally, it is the only supermarket chain in Lebanon that has retained its local identity, keeping its local Arabic name where others have chosen to westernize identities. This stems from its brand values that are firmly engrained in Lebanon and supporting the country.

The Brief

Lebanon has absorbed more than 2 million Syrian refugees. More than half are children, drastically increasing the number of children beggars. There is no social infrastructure or government system to help the refugee population. Additionally, gangs exploited some street children, using the money they were given to buy illicit items. Unsure of where their money was going, the Lebanese stopped giving. This left the majority of street children who beg to survive, without basic necessities. As a leading brand, Bou Khalil supermarkets wanted to step in to help these children and stay true to its promise of “generations of care”.

How the final design was conceived

To enable the Lebanese to give responsibly, we created an alternate currency to hand to street children named the Good Note. Unlike bank notes, it can only be spent on good things. The Good Note is worth the same amount as the Lebanese 1000 pound note ($0.66), the smallest demonization of Lebanese currency most commonly given to street children. However, it can only be spent at the 11 Bou Khalil supermarket branches and its affiliated pharmacy, with restrictions on cigarettes and alcohol. To launch the Good Note, we created a communication campaign leading people to buy the note and hand it out instead of money. In-Store posters targeted citizens of the country to shed awareness on the importance of giving responsibly. Each visuals features an illicit item handcrafted from pieces of the Lebanese 1000 pound note using a collage technique to visually demonstrate that money can buy anything and the importance of giving responsibly, pushing the Lebanese to buy and give the Good Note to street children instead of cash.

Indication of how successful the outcome was in the market

The Good Note initiative resonated across Lebanon and abroad. Key to the buzz generated were the in-store posters that effectively demonstrated the problem of giving money to street children and the importance of giving responsibly, while simultaneously driving them to a functional and usable solution. Purchases of the Good Note climbed exponentially after the release of the in-store posters, so much so that we are ready for a reprint. With more than 25 million Lebanese pounds worth of Good Notes circulating around the country one month into the initiative, we got the Lebanese to give again and turned a supermarket chain into a social service network.