Winner 2021
Social Good
Brand
Malaria No More UK
Entered by:
Dentsu
Drawing the line against malaria to help end it for good
The Challenge
Malaria is a disease that’s been around since the dinosaurs, and yet it is still a disease that is stealing our future. Despite huge progress over the last twenty years, a child still dies every 2 minutes from malaria – and it is a preventable disease. Those most vulnerable to malaria are children, and those children will create our future. World leaders have made previous commitments to decrease malaria by 50% by 2023, but continued progress toward ending malaria is stalling – even prior to COVID-19. Malaria No More UK (MNM) is determined to end malaria by inspiring the public, businesses and the government to fight for a malaria-free world. Dentsu has supported MNM as a global pro-bono client for the last 4 years, and several national local campaigns had previously been executed to support MNM’s efforts to eradicate malaria. 3 of 6 In 2021, key political events across global platforms would provide a tremendous opportunity for MNM to deliver a strong global message to world leaders on the importance of prioritising their commitments to help end malaria for good. Across Dentsu teams, an impactful new global brand and campaign were created to help MNM raise awareness, galvanise communities and influence world leaders to take immediate action against malaria. OUR GLOBAL CAMPAIGN’S OBJECTIVES: 1. Ahead of key upcoming global political events, galvanise the influential global youth audience to create a sense of a movement encouraging world leaders to move malaria up the political agenda and deliver on commitments to decrease malaria by 50% by 2023 2. Inform and engage the general public in ending malaria as an investment in pandemic preparedness and support in fighting COVID-19 3. Inspire young people to believe they are the generation to end malaria (attitudes and awareness)
The Creative Solution
DESIGNING A YOUTH MOVEMENT: With over 41% of the population aged under 25, the youth are powerful agents of change. Our campaign needed to represent a rallying cry for them to step up/act in the fight against malaria. Traditional charity campaigns failed to hit home, so we needed a new way to inspire a young generation to take back their future. We looked to the world of art, music, fashion and entertainment to connect on a cultural level, highlighting the energy, creativity and positivity of Africa. Our ground-breaking campaign tapped into cultural zeitgeists where new generations were claiming their futures back from this deadly disease. Launching a bold, new digital platform, activation and powerful film allowed the campaign to venture into new spaces and capture audiences’ hearts and minds. Every element of our creative solution aligns with our audience and market nuances: • Highly visual – Vibrant and eye catching • Look less like a charity – Our creative look and feel makes us unrecognisable from traditional charity cause campaigns • Social-first – Everything designed to be participatory and sharable • Light-bandwidth – to cater for coverage differences (3G vs 4G) across markets INTRODUCING: THE MUUNDO: We partnered with Nigerian artist, activist and lawyer, Láolú Sebanjo, known worldwide for using his patterns to start conversations and shed light on important issues. We created the Muundo, a modern celebration of Africa’s oldest art from: traditional line painting. We used the Muundo to create a modular system that allowed people from all over the world to add their own line to a crowdsourced piece of art, a collective call to end malaria. https://zeromalaria.org/ To spread the word and mobilise action we also created a star-studded hero video, directed by acclaimed Nigerian music video director Meji Alabi, and featuring Senbanjo and captivating talent and energy emanating out of the African continent, including: • Dr Omotola J Ekeinde, Nigerian actress and philanthropist • Osas Ighodaro, Nigerian American actress and producer • Saray Khumalo, South African explorer • Eliud Kipchoge, Olympic Gold-medallist and marathon world record-holder • Siya Kolisi, Captain of the Springboks, South Africa’s World Cup winning rugby team • Sherrie Silver, award-winning Rwandan British choreographer 4 of 6 Finally, we needed to create a suite of assets adaptable by media partners around the world. ASSETS: 1. Hero video – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Z4xB62SQ5k 2. An animation, telling the story of the Muundo – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TfnKdfWpxd4 3. A suite of modular digital artwork which media partners could adapt to suit any available pro bono media
The Media/Content Amplification Solution
There was one inescapable challenge that made this campaign unlike any Dentsu had worked on before: We had ZERO media budget. Dentsu bore some costs of physical media production, ad clearance etc, but every TV spot, OOH billboard, print insertion and digital impression had to be negotiated pro bono. Therefore, not only did our media strategy need to establish a consistent global amplification approach, but, more importantly, it had to be designed to cater for any free media generous partners were able to donate. To guarantee a unified blend of regional insight and world-leading planning expertise, our global media strategy was developed in close collaboration between Dentsu SSA in Nairobi and Dentsu International in London. STRATEGY CONTEXT: We were navigating in a world where consumers are conscious of being marketed to, and the ways they participate with charitable organisations is changing. • Distrust of ads is growing / adblockers – An increasing global issue for advertisers; ads seen as “pervasive, intrusive, irrelevant, creepy” • Consumers demanding authenticity of all brands – Transparency is now expected rather than something that sets one brand apart from another. • Evolution of charitable giving – More consumers are giving their time and voices, aiming to be a part of the changes in society they wish to see Therefore we looked for new/authentic ways to reach our audiences, and we were transparent about why we were there and why we needed their support. OUR MEDIA STRATEGY: WEAVING OUR MESSAGE INTO THE FABRIC OF MODERN CULTURE Our media approach had 3 key objectives: • Driving views of our hero video; showcasing our mission and demonstrating the global support behind it. • Iconic, fame-driving media to bring mass attention to our cause and provide surround sound to encourage leaders to act. • Weaving our assets & Muundo into the fabric of modern culture. Or more pointedly, hacking screens and blank canvasses to include our creative. AUDIENCE: Those who could rapidly and easily multiply our message, creating a sense of public mandate to give leaders a sense that action on malaria has political cover and reward. • Public (18-34yrs – the generation that could end malaria – GenZ/Gen2030) • Malaria community and partners • Leaders/decision makers MARKETS & FOCUS: Split between priority malaria ‘burden’ countries across Africa and in India, and key ‘donor’ markets of the USA, UK, Canada and Australia
The Result
The campaign first launched in African markets in February 2021 in support of the African Union Summit, and the ‘donor’ markets and India launched 25th April 2021 in support of World Malaria Day. Even during a time of significant disruption across both the global advertising industry and the world itself, agency teams across Dentsu were able to successfully unlock over $2 million in media value on a pro bono basis (with much more media being unlocked since the campaign has launched). The media is being supported with internal and external PR and social initiatives to drive further owned/earned support for the campaign, MNM and their cause. To date, our media alone has generated over 150 million impressions across our target countries, reach of over 66 million people, and has driven over 6 million views of the DTL Hero video and over 1.3 million clicks to the Zero Malaria website. PR initiatives have generated a further reach of 10 million, with coverage across Sky News, The Drum, iAfrica, and AdAge, as well as stories in Sustainable Brands, Creative Moment, It’s Nice That and Shots. Internal and external social promotions have driven a further 5 million impressions. In total to date, over 540 million people have been exposed to the Draw the Line campaign andover 32,000 Muundo patterns created from people drawing their line against malaria. This is history in the making, and the proof of the power of art and culture to combat one of the world’s deadliest diseases.
For more information on the campaign, please visit https://zeromalaria.org