Tag archives: social campaigns

The “Protect your head” campaign

From Canada (via Freddy’s blog), acampaign to raise awareness around the risks of brain injuries. The idea is to convince people to wear an helmet everytime the perform potentially risk activities, such as biking, skating, but also working in a construction site. The website features a 3D brain that simulates what everyday social situations may be like after suffering brain injury. You can take a series of tests by answering questions or playing little games that show you how your capabilities may result affected if you don’t protect your head. I really like the approach and the tone of voice they’ve given to this campaign, because it touches important points to get teens’ attention but, at the same time, sends out a positive message: having fun doing crazy things it’s not prohibited, but remember to protect your head when you do it (see the “can I go out and play?” section). The agency behind the site is Artistech Newmedia while the offline side of the campaign has been created by DDB Canada. If you continue reading this entry, you’ll see the print ads they’ve created.

Read more…

Don’t You Forget About Me

Youtube tries to make itself useful not only to individual exhibitionists and brands seeking some Web 2.0 attention, but also to charity organizations that can benefit as well from massive exposure. Last week the channel DontYouForgetAboutMe has been launched in the UK, with the goal of bringing the plight of missing children to a wider and younger audience. The channel has been set up by the International Centre for Missing & Exploited Children (ICMEC), in collaboration with the Find Madeleine Campaign and with the support of Youtube. Interesting to point out, it’s not possible to copy & embedd the code of any of the videos uploaded by the user DontYouForgetAboutMe.

Love is not just a game

The summer is the best season of the year to fall in love. For a night or forever, doesn’t matter, as long as you “protect” yourself. In France a new site has just been launched to spread the word about the risk of summer’s encounters, and explain to teenagers (but not only to them) what can put them at risk of contracting AIDS. The site, called www.touteslesrencontressontpossibles.com (all possible encounters) has been developed by X-Prime with a style that is serious but engagingly amusing at the same time. Given the sensible topic, they did a great job using graphics and drawings to picture typical summer’s situations and send out straightforward messages to the teens. Even if the site is all in French, I’m sure you can find your way through the content. There is actually quite a lot to discover, but the easiest/fastest way to appreciate the campaign is simply to select an avatar and follow the path unveiled after the choice. You will be taken through a series of summer’s scenes (the beach, the disco etc…) where you will get an explanation on the right thing to do when you “fall in love” with someone. As far as I remember, this is the first website built to raise awareness on the dangers contracting AIDS. If you know of other campaigns, would be great if you could share a link and/or leave a comment. Thanks! via Damien’s blog.

The Battle for the Bronchs

From Australia, a kind of social campaign to raise awareness on asthma (I wrote “kind of” because it’s sponsored by Glaxo Smith Kline). Created by Tequila, Battle for the Bronchs is an interactive comic book combining live action video set in an illustrated city inside a pair of lungs. The site is aimed at young people who may suffer from asthma but tend to ignore the warning signs and avoid traditional health management messages. When I first read the title of the campaign I must say I was a little bit skeptical and somehow disgusted, but you know, you should never stop at the first impression, so I visited the site and I changed my mind. I explain myself… I like the concept, and I like the design, but I have some doubts concerning the real capability of the campaign to properly deliver the message. I think the advertainment approach works very well to grab people attention, to make them curious enough to spend a few minutes on the site (the advergame “lung-fu” is brilliant!). However I’m not sure to which extent young visitors will become aware of the importance of dealing with asthma in time and in the right way. For example, I would have put more focus on the Asthma Score test which on the contrary, ends up being quite hidden. So, overall, the evaluation of the site is positive, but with some open questions on the balance between the entertaining and the educational aspect of the communication.

Road Safety promoted online

It’s an interesting exercise to observe the different approach to the online communication in a road safety campaign. The first, strong example, comes from Canada, where they have launched the 50000victimes.com website. The second example is Spanish, and it’s called “Me importa un huevo” (which literally translates into “I don’t give a damn” - thanks Daniel!). 50000victimes.com focuses on a very strong and impactful approach, using a dramatic video to immediately get people’s attention. The site is presented like a sort of news site, with potentially a lot content. Me importa un huevo, on the contrary, uses a more subtle and personal approach, asking the user to begin their visit on the site by entering the name of a friend or relative who is younger than 25 years old. Then the path continues with a sort of rudimental advergame, where the users try to stop eggs moving on a chainbelt. The objective is to avoid the eggs (lives) to be destroyed by hitting the ground. The last egg has the name you submitted.

Whose that bag?

On Marco’s blog another great social campaign I feel like “stealing” and sharing with you. It has been created by the Miami Ad School for the Transport of London, and it aims at encouraging people to report unusal behaviours they might happen to see on public transportation. At first I’ve been attracted by the artistic side of the creations, but there’s actually much more than a nice illustration to observe and comment. Click on the images to read the story they portrait, and think about the feelings they trigger in you. I must say my reaction has been of sadness and conscious awareness of the world we’re living in. And it’s weird that one has to use art and poetry to get people’s attention on the dangers we might face and might help avoiding. Art and poetry should be used to celebrate love and happiness, not to force you to keep your eyes on your travel companion’s bag. In any case, the ads are lovely.

Read more…

Open your eyes on violence on children

You already know I’m always glad when I see online marketing applied to social campaigns. The new one I’ve been told about by Dick and his agency (Achtung!) has been launched to draw people’s attention on children suffering in The Netherlands. The site is called in Dutch “Ik zie ik zie wat jij niet ziet” (which translates as “I see I see what you don’t see”) and it has been developed for SIRE (Stichting Ideële Reclame - Foundation for Non-commercial Campaigns) a is not government-funded association which works on campaign on urgent issues in society that do not get enough attention. The work done for SIRE by advertising agencies, web agencies and other companies is donated. The same goes for air time, ad space and other facilities.

Read more…