2020/2021 Winners & Shortlists

Why is this work relevant for PR?

Amid of an emerging global crisis and the rise of COVID-19, Lifebuoy recognized it has a social responsibility that is bigger than just regular communication. The brand realized a problem and quickly jumped on to act, fully understanding that we had to change people’s perception and actions without scaring them or enlisting further horror to the situation. Therefore Lifebuoy focused on PRing and activations that would promote the safety measures in the most crucial time.

Background

Lifebuoy runs the world’s largest behavior change program to encourage hand washing. In response to the global pandemic, the brand has embarked on a public service campaign to remind people that hand hygiene and using any soap brand can help reduce the spread of infections in less than 48 Hrs from first news of the outbreak. For this, the brand launched full-fledged campaign with the aim of reaching audiences both online and offline with the objective of reach to educate people about the importance of handwashing and safety precautions during the pandemic. However, the brand recognized that this won’t be enough, and that to truly enlist behavioral change we needed to connect to people on a much more engaging level. The objective was to get people to washing their hands properly and take all safety and preventative precautions to combat the virus which would intern reflect on sales.

Describe the creative idea (20% of vote)

Lifebuoy’s communication was bound to create awareness but that was not enough. We need to ensure we create deeper engagement & attitude change to feel the impact and that’s when we knew that regular communication was not going to cut it. The growth of TikTok specifically around the time of lockdown seamed like the golden opportunity to get though to people. Youth were already on board and very active on the platform while older target was getting introduced during lockdown provided a great opportunity for Lifebuoy. Seeing how engaged users were and how much effort and time they were putting consuming and creating content it seemed like a spot-on opportunity for Lifebuoy to leverage its communication to create a deeper impact. In order to capture users’ attention, we needed to formulate a fun #Challenge that would be able to portray our message and was engaging enough to go viral.

Describe the PR strategy (30% of vote)

The key communication Lifebuoy wanted to address was that people needed to wash their hands properly to protect themselves against the virus. The challenge was how to make such a boring/straight forward message more fun to resonate with a younger target audience age 15 - 25. To do so, we created an edgy & upbeat jingle the communicates the simple steps of washing your hands properly and staying safe and protected from the virus. We then took this jingle to TikTok to create a #DoTheLifebuoy challenge that promoted handwashing a fun trend.

Describe the PR execution (20% of vote)

We started out by blocking the TikTok challenge for 1 week but knew that for it take effect we needed the support of influencers, we partnered up with tens of top TikTok influencers to give a push to the challenge. To support our message, we had in feed and Top View placements locked as well for maximum exposure. For the roll out we had a couple of influencers post a day and before we knew it there were thousands of user generated content around the #DoTheLifebuoy challenge within the first 2 days. The effect was huge that A list celebrities were organically participating in the challenge to support the positive message associated with it. The key to the roll out was timing. This activation launched mid-March was a week into lock down giving Lifebuoy great edge.

List the results (30% of vote)

Campaign Results: KSA & UAE Results: • Hashtag Challenge PV: 3.9M Page Views • Total #Challenge VV: 510M Views • Total Videos Published: 300K Videos • Total Shares: 1.4M Shares • Top View Ad: 17M IMPs & 21% CTR Egypt: • Hashtag Challenge PV: 1.9M Page Views • Total #Challenge VV: 74.2M Views • Total Videos Published: 71K Videos (including A list celebrities) • Total Shares: 200K Shares • Top View Ad: 79M IMPs & 23% CTR Business Results • #1 BU on growth globally • Number 1 in handwashing surpassing Dettol • Egypt Grew 4X LB USG in H1 2020 • 7X E commerce growth in skin cleansing through right bundles and relevant communication • Thanks the massive efforts Lifebuoy is now a 100M EGP brand in Egypt. • 208% Sales increase in Egypt • 152% Sales Increase in GCC • In UAE after the campaign Lifebuoy was crowned the market leader surpassing the competition by 1%.