2016 Winners & Shortlists

The Campaign

Thousands of refugees cross borders escaping hunger, poverty, wars and persecution. Those who make it alive, often find themselves facing the worst forms of cynicism and mistreatment. Our challenge was to raise awareness among citizens, locally and internationally, around the mistreatment that migrants and refugees find once they cross borders, influence the public opinion about the urge to restore human dignity and to make destination countries confront their cynicism. We aimed to reach as many people as possible. So we launched an online video built on a shocking parallelism extracted from real life footages. It starts as a regular documentary on migrant birds travelling to find a better environment. Once they arrive to their destinations they find the best of care and treatment… Then we showed human beings going through the same routes, but they are received with hate, tear gas and nightsticks… We ended the video with the following message : “don’t beat them. Please treat them like animals!” The video was uploaded on the client’s Youtube and Facebook pages. Soon, Everyone, from top radio stations, newspapers and bloggers got behind the campaign. The online video reached over 65 countries and got massively viewed.

The Brief

Our aim was to raise awareness among citizens locally and internationally about the mistreatment migrants and refugees find once they cross borders and influence the public opinion about the urge to restore human dignity and to make destination countries confront their cynicism. The best way to reach as many people as possible was through social networks by turning a special video viral and create the buzz.

Execution

First of all, we came up with a video containing a shocking message. Then we put it online on the client’s youtube and Facebook pages with an eye catching thumbnail in November 23rd, 2015. In order to make the video more viral, we got in contact with some media relations, influential journalists and bloggers. The campaign ran better than expected and reached more than 65 countries.

Cross channel views exceeded 300 000 views. The video reached more than 65 countries. Top radio stations, newspapers and bloggers got behind the campaign. It was shared by the number 1 radio youtube channel in Tunisia. Many influential sites wrote about it including Ad Week, Huffington Post & Buzzfeed to name a few.

The Strategy

The plan was to come up with a bright idea that ensures viral spread. Then use media relations to amplify this spread and make the online video reach as many countries as possible. Our target audience is mainly people living in the refugees destination countries and governments.