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.’
Starting Mother’s Day, UN Women wanted men across Egypt, to ‘Give mom back her name’ with the hashtag #MyMothersNameIs
Our strategy was to target males in Egypt. They were the primary agents of the change. Our secondary target were mothers who would subsequently become more conscious of the taboo that surrounded their name.
Creative 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’ with the hashtag #MyMothersNameIs
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.
To amplify this sentiment from social and mass media and create on-ground momentum, we filled Cairo with interactive posters where people wrote their mom’s names.
Describe the success of the promotion with both client and consumer including some quantifiable results
Every leading newspaper and TV channel in Egypt, the Middle East and the world covered the issue, debated the stigma and spread the message.
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 joined the conversation.
2nd most shared film on Facebook worldwide in less than 24 hours-Mashable
118 million regional twitter impressions
315 million regional facebook impressions
Worldwide Viral No.6 on 3rd Week March - Campaign Viral Chart, UK
Most Trending Content on Feminism & Gender Equality - Trendolizer
Scores of Egyptian men, women and leading celebrities, questioned the stigma and revealed their mother’s names proudly in public.
The most unexpected result however, was not only that men gave mothers the right to their names, but that mothers stood for their rights themselves, for the first time.
Explain why the method of promotion was most relevant to the product or service
Give mom back her name is an integrated campaign with key promo & activation elements at its core, across different phases.
The campaign began with on-ground interviews conducted across Cairo.
A film was launched of the findings.
After the launch of the campaign, debates and discussions were held at schools, community forums and streets across Egypt.
At a subsequent stage, we filled the streets of Cairo with posters to amplify the campaign.
Men, women and celebrities created user generated content across Egypt.