2022 Winners & Shortlists

Background

In August 2021, as terrorist group Taliban took over Kabul, newsfeeds were flooded with horrific images and videos of Afghans hanging from airplanes and handing out their children to foreign soldiers in hope their little ones would get to safer lands. And the world reacted, through hashtags and emojis. Only. But we all knew Afghanistan needed more than that. And the ICRC knew that better than anyone. With its mission to protect and provide help to victims of armed conflicts, it has been serving the people of Afghanistan for over 30 years, providing crucial help to a nation that has been suffering for decades. And even in Afghanistan’s darkest hours, the ICRC remained true to its mission. However, they needed urgent donations to keep their teams operational in Afghanistan and provide aid to a population in peril.

Describe the strategy

Initial data we gathered revealed that 55% of people who engage with NGOs on social media take some action, and a further 59% go onto donating money. But that wasn’t our reality here yet. While we knew there are people willing to help, we also knew that in such unprecedented hard times globally, reaching and engaging a general audience won’t be an easy task. And we needed people to act fact. So, we took a different approach. We didn’t want to engage with just anyone and send general help messages. Building on our initial findings, we used data to target those who were already familiar with the situation in Afghanistan. They were already engaging with the topic online, overwhelming the internet with heartbroken emojis and statements. Our strategy became to target these people and push them to give more than a like, by showing them the impact they could have.

Describe the execution

Afghanistan and the ICRC needed donations urgently. Building on data that showed that 55% of people who engage with NGOs on social media take some action, we decided to target those who have supported Afghanistan online. Our campaign message was simple, and hard-hitting – a dollar goes much farther than a like. We crafted an emotional data-led film: React for Real. Building on insights and data, and inspired by the popular expression ‘If I had a dollar for every time […]’, the film demonstrates the life changing effects had online reactions been monetary donations. Launched on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and YouTube, the film displayed the hashtags with their millions of reactions they garnered, followed by their monetary value and the real life-saving changes that they could have led to.The film was also cut into shorter edits targeting people who reacted with specific emojis to show the value of their reactions.

List the results

The campaign spread wide across the different platforms and countries. It reached +5,000,000, achieved a total of +2,614,251 impressions and 422,383 people engaged with the video. This led to + 200% increase on donations to help Afghanistan.