Since the rise in hard hitting (and equally hard to watch) documentaries making it into the comfort of our living rooms, people are starting to sit up and take notice of the state of the world. Everything from how refugees are really greeted at our borders to the hidden ingredients in our everyday groceries is getting exposed. Six organisations demonstrate how social media, when done well, massively amplifies the reach and impact of charitable and social marketing.
Malaria Must Die
An obvious choice for the first campaign…the campaign we worked on!
We recently translated a video for the Malaria Must Die campaign; featuring long-term malaria ambassador and world-renowned footballer, David Beckham.
The campaign aims to encourage world leaders to take action against the world’s deadliest disease in the run-up to the Global Fund conference to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria this October. Throughout the 55 second clip, a total of nine different languages are used to outline the devastating impact of malaria in a bid to raise awareness and motivate people to sign the petition to end malaria for good. By using multiple voices in various languages, the campaign illustrates the importance of people coming together as one to make a positive change.
Brightlines were approached to translate and transcreate the content of the video into 13 different languages. Upon advising the campaigners on how best to portray their message in various languages, Brightlines then reviewed the video after editing to ensure that the use of language corresponded with the aim of the campaign.
We are delighted to have been a part of such a profound and important campaign that addresses the significance of finding a cure for malaria. Our role in the project involved providing our translation and transcreation services to the various languages included throughout the video, making sure that each section preserved the message of the campaign. The languages included in the video are English, Spanish, Kinyarwanda, Arabic, French, Hindi, Mandarin, Kiswahili and Yoruba.
Roma football signings/missing children campaign
Roma recently teamed up with missing children charity groups National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) and launched a campaign to raise awareness of missing children in Italy and the USA.
Source: @Sporf on Twitter
Using the “milk carton” style advertising, which was widely used throughout the 80s and 90s in the USA, Roma are releasing an image and information of a missing child for every new player signing announcement. Capitalising on their huge social following and engagement, Roma are hoping to raise awareness by getting the relevant information to a much wider audience.
This campaign reminds us that, while we’re distracted by the world of sports and entertainment, there are vulnerable people out there who need our attention more than ever. Roma have chosen to share their spotlight and have pulled it off particularly well.
Wateraid at Wimbledon
For the third year running Wateraid and Wimbledon are teaming up to raise of the global water crisis in some of the world’s poorest communities. Piggybacking on the popular hashtag #thequeue, Water Aid are using the opportunity to help spectators and attendees to pass the time and get a souvenir photo taken.
Source: @cabbagehead_j via Twitter
Wimbledon generally conjures up images of glorious weather and strawberries and cream for many. However, the reality for the visitors (who know the pain of long queues the hot weather) makes it the perfect platform to highlight the importance of access to enough clean water. It serves as a timely reminder for many of us how vital it is to have this basic human right.
We love this campaign because it’s been executed particularly well. It’s so much more than a fun hashtag or a viral video or just a lazy sponsorship. The charity have found a fitting event to communicate the vital work of the charity whilst making it fun and engaging for visitors.
Essie Ambassador for Pride
Queer Eye’s Jonathan Van Ness has become Essie’s new (and first non-female) brand ambassador in honour of Pride. Jonathan has stated in his instagram announcement post that nail art has always been a form of self expression for him.
As Essie has a huge, predominantly female following, their relatable new ambassador will no doubt help to reframe the way we view the cosmetics industry make it more accessible for everyone.
Every time a massive brand picks a new ambassador they have an opportunity to make a statement, do something original and change the narrative of a product or industry. Our favourite bit about this particular campaign is that Essie have taken that opportunity and hopefully made a step towards making cosmetics more enjoyable and accessible for everyone.
Source: @jvn via Instagram
Theatre volunteers
Getting into the world of acting, theatre and performing is competitive and the auditioning process can take its toll. Almost everyone knows someone who is persevering through rejections and having to dust themselves off trying to make it in this notoriously difficult industry.
Source: @julietmusical via Twitter
After massive success last year, UK Theatre (a member led organisation) is hosting another recruitment day off sorts in Piccadilly Theatre to help anyone with aspirations of a career in theatre. Volunteers from schools the UK over are using their experiences and answering questions about their roles in wardrobe, lighting, casting and producing and more and broadening people’s knowledge and understanding of a variety of roles within theatre. Using the hashtag #inspiringFutureTheatre to increase awareness, its success is also benefiting an audience that couldn’t be there.
We like this campaign a lot for its approachable nature. For anyone young and/or relatively inexperienced, we can imagine this event (and the social around it) helps break down barriers and maybe even clear up some misconceptions about the industry.
Cancer Research UK prove how tricky it can be to get it right
This final, UK-wide, campaign has been criticised for “fat shaming”. Their campaign is attempting to communicate the research findings “obese people now outnumber smokers two to one” using cigarette packet style print ads.
Source: @KenLynch73 via Twitter
This campaign proves the execution and the messaging of campaigns can be difficult to get right. Not everyone will be a fan of every campaign.
How Cancer Research UK reacted to this criticism was interesting…
Source: @CR_UK via Twitter
What we like about this campaign is that the artwork attempts to highlight the statistic i.e. that obesity outweighs smoking in cancer risk. The idea was undoubtedly to reframe the way we see the health implications of obesity, not to cause offence.
What campaigns have you been a fan of? Tag us on Twitter @brightlines and let us know!
