OVK :::Let it ring

BRAND OWNER:OVK
CATEGORY:Charities
REGION:Belgium
DATE:Apr 2009 - Dec 2008

Most people know that using your mobile phone while driving can cause accidents, and a large number of accidents could be avoided if people didn’t answer their mobile phones while driving. A charity for parents of child road victims, OVK, wanted to hammer home the dangers of speaking on your phone while driving in a surprising way.
OVK created a website letitring.be where people could enter their friend’s mobile number and email address. The friend would then receive an email containing a link to a Belgium’s largest video portal Garage TV video and a message saying “check out this crazy car crash I found on the web (be sure to put your sound up loud)”. When the friend clicks on the link, the Garage TV video opens in his browser.

The friend thinks they are about to see a user-generated car crash movie on a video website. The video shows a driver’s view of a car journey, with the camera looking through the windscreen at the road. While the person is watching the video, their phone will start to ring at a crucial moment in the video. As soon as they answer the phone, the car in the video loses control and crashes. Then the message appears on the screen saying: “avoid an accident. Let it ring.” They are then given the option to pass the viral prank on with the website’s details. This was supported by a separate campaign aimed at young people who listen to their MP3 players in traffic. Teaming up with popular musicians Sioen, Joshua and Sound of Stereo they created tracks that could be freely downloaded. They songs start as normal, but halfway through you hear the screeching sounds of car tyres and a crashing sound, followed by the brand message.

WWF::: Visualizing charity donations

BRAND OWNER:WWF
CATEGORY:Charities
REGION:Brazil
DATE:Feb 2009 - Mar 2009

When people give to charity, it is often hard to visualize where exactly their money is going. Many people can question that the money they donate is actually going to directly help the cause they are donating to.

WWF wanted to create a tangible link between donation and the animals that were going to benefit from the cause.
WWF was particularly concerned about the plight of the toucan, the sea turtle and the marsh deer.

WWF decided to set up donation areas in public places including gyms, cinemas and company reception areas.

It created large magnetic posters with a faint painting-by-numbers style outline of a toucan, a sea turtle or a deer. Within the outline were markings where people could place different types of coins to create the features of the creature. The message on the poster read: “Make your donations to WWF Brazil here and see who you’ll be helping”.

Silver coloured 50 centavo coins would form the lightest parts of the animal, gold and silver coloured 1 real coins would form the bulk of the animals, while the darker coppery coloured 5 and 1 centavo coins would build the shaded areas.

As more people donated by placing their coins on the magnetic surface, the image of the animal appeared.

Veritas Spiriti::: Be bold and check them

BRAND OWNER:Veritas Spiriti
CATEGORY:Charities
REGION:Macedonia
DATE:Sep 2008 - Dec 2007

Amongst men between 15 and 40, awareness of testicular cancer and its symptoms are very low.

The cancer can be easily detected with a simple self examination and if detected early it can be successfully treated in 99% of the cases. NGO Veritas Spiriti wanted to educate men how to self-examine and motivate them to do it regularly.

The target group doesn’t worry about things like cancer, so the charity wanted to deliver multiple repetitions of the core message in a funny way.

Veritas Spiriti decided to literally give men “a hand” in checking themselves. The charity created cut outs of hands complete with information about the checks in football stadiums, in the gym, in barber shops and in changing rooms as well as at the car wash and snooker rooms.

In Macedonian slang, testicles are also known as eggs, so Veritas Spiriti stamped the message on eggs sold at local markets. This was supported by a website (www.proverigi.com.mk) containing more details and facts about testicular cancer. There were banners resembling women’s breasts with a zip over them. Once the banner is “unzipped” two eggs were revealed underneath with the message.
Prior to the campaign around 1% of men were aware of testicular cancer, but afterwards there was a 74% awareness. Ministry of Health data revealed that the number of doctor visits for checking testicular cancer were 11% higher after the campaign. Finally the internet banners were clicked 1100% more then the regular banners.

Pacifico:::Peace project

BRAND OWNER:Pacifico
CATEGORY:Charities
REGION:Colombia
DATE:Sep 2008 - Dec 2008

Colombia has the oldest armed conflict in Latin America. A 36 year old Colombian doesn’t understand the concept of his/her country without war. Every 15 days 346 people die because of the armed conflict. In 2007, six kidnappings occurred every two days. However, the nation is making strenuous efforts to stop violence. Colombia has a Guinness Record for the world’s largest peace movement against war.

In 2008, 1,042 rebels handed over their weapons. Initiative set up a communications movement called Pacifico to support and promote peace.

The hub of the peaceful campaign was www.proyectopacifico.com. This is where Colombians could post their simple ideas to help Colombia live in peace. These included: “ask for forgiveness”, “remember to breathe”, “call your mother more often”, “don’t shout”.

Initiative approached leading advertisers in Colombia and persuaded them to transform the ideas into media spots so the message of peace could be spread. Leading media owners supported the project by giving free ad space. Initiative garnered support from the Francisco Santos, vice-president of Colombia as well as key media moguls.

More than 60 media owners in TV, radio, newspapers, magazines, outdoor and digital supported Pacifico with free spots, with a value of around $US 700,000. Around 1,000 simple ideas have been posted in the page.

The campaign also managed to unite media owners and advertisers in a single cause.