2016 Winners & Shortlists

The Campaign

Despite being a 3000 year old civilization, there exists a peculiar taboo in Egypt, where men never disclose their mother’s names in public, fearing they could be shamed or ridiculed. So much so, that mother’s names are forgotten over time, and they are only referred to as ‘the mother of her eldest son.’ Before Mother’s Day, we went down the streets of Cairo and asked men one simple question - ‘What is your mother’s name? We took our findings from the streets and launched a film on social media, to begin an initiative for the men of Egypt starting Mother’s Day, to ‘Give mom back her name’ with the hashtag #MyMothersNameIs In under 24 hours #MyMothersNameIs began trending on Social Media and every major publication and television channel in Egypt picked up our film, starting a nationwide debate from the newsrooms to the nerve centers of Egypt –Schools, Community Forums and Streets. To amplify this sentiment, we filled the streets with posters where people wrote their mom’s names. The dialogue gained further momentum when Women and Gender Equality groups joined in. Beyond Egypt, regional and International media became a catalyst for millions of Arab voices from around the world. This proved to be an awakening, as scores of Egyptian men, women and celebrities, questioned the stigma and revealed their mother’s names proudly in public. Not only did men give mothers the right to their names, but that mothers stood for their rights themselves, for the first time.

The Brief

Based on our findings from the streets of Egypt and the well-known cultural taboo that surrounded Egyptian mothers, starting Mother’s Day 2015, we wanted men across Egypt, to ‘Give mom back her name’.

Execution

Before Mother’s Day, we went down the streets of Cairo and asked men one simple question - ‘What is your mother’s name? We took our findings from the streets and launched a film on social media, to begin an initiative for the men of Egypt starting Mother’s Day, to ‘Give mom back her name’. To amplify this sentiment and create on-ground momentum, we filled Cairo with posters where people wrote their mom’s names. Our strategy, as planned, was to first seed the film online from where it would subsequently be picked up, leveraged and spread across every corner of the nation by Egypt’s mass media and on social blogs. This would create a ripple effect of awareness across the Middle East region and beyond.

Every leading newspaper and TV channel in Egypt, the Middle East and the world covered the issue, debated the stigma and spread the message. This coverage was across mass media and social media platforms. But most importantly, they took the debate to the nerve centers of Egypt – The Schools, Community Forums and the Streets. Women and Gender Equality groups from around the Middle East joined the conversation. 2nd most shared film on Facebook worldwide in less than 24 hours- Mashable Most Trending Content on Feminism & Gender Equality - Trendolizer 118 million regional twitter impressions 315 million regional Facebook impressions Worldwide Viral No.6 on 3rd Week March - Campaign Viral Chart, UK Scores of Egyptian men, women and leading celebrities from both Egypt and Hollywoood, questioned the stigma and revealed their mother’s names proudly in public.

The Strategy

Our primary target was the men of Egypt. They were the key agents of who we were aiming at. Our secondary target were mothers who would become more conscious and aware of the taboo that surrounded them. From a media perspective, there were those who were active on social media and others who were more actively engaged with mass media. We wanted to target both. Which is why we launched the campaign on social media which would subsequently be picked up, leveraged and spread across every corner of the nation by Egypt’s mass media. This would create a ripple effect across the Middle East region and beyond.