Lifebuoy’s innovative Help A Kid Reach 5 campaign idea was to adopt Thesgora village, with high diarrheal child deaths in India. Through a digital campaign, rally parents spread handwashing messages.
The “Help A Child Reach 5” Movement, empowered millions by realizing 25 million YouTube views & 16 million pledges. In Thesgora, diarrhea incidence fell by 75%.
Challenge:
Credits:
Client: Hindustan Unilever Limited
Agency: Lowe Lintas And Partners, PHD, Sapient Nitro, and Salt
Medium Featured On Video: Interactive, PR, Radio, TV, Social Networking Applications
Language: English
Every year 2 million children under 5 die due to diarrhea and pneumonia. The problem is that people are unaware of these deaths, nor do they know that soap can save lives.
While Lifebuoy has been teaching children healthy handwashing habits for over a decade, this year, we set ourselves the goal of making a genuine impact on saving lives of children by adopting one of the most diarrhea prone villages in the world.
Through Help a Kid Reach 5 campaign, HUL wanted to reach out to like-minded individuals and organizations who care about such causes and inspire them to join their movement of changing the hand-washing behaviors of a billion people by 2015.
Solution: Help a Kid Reach 5
Through the work, HUL has been doing on ground for the last 10 years; they encountered many heartfelt stories of parents whose children had succumbed to these diseases and yet were stunned by the lack of knowledge that a small act like washing hands with soap can save a child’s life.
Wanting to put a human face to the statistics, they decided to tell the world the Lifebuoy story in a real and deeply felt emotional way. The story had to not only open people’s minds to the avoidable deaths, but move them to care and share it with others. This film is the beginning of that journey, and a clarion call to all to join this purpose.
HUL’s Help a Kid Reach 5 campaign is unique in the sense that it is not just a ‘beautiful film,’ but an entire program aimed at ensuring every child in Thesgora village survives the age of 5. Using social media to tap into the collective consciousness, they want people to be inspired to act and make a real difference to these children’s lives.
The film’s inspiration came from real-life stories of how parents in rural India express their gratitude when they overcome adversities. It is a common practice to make a vow to the local God / Deity in such times. Standing on one foot for extended periods, sacrificing your favorite food, and walking barefoot on a pilgrimage are examples.
So HUL’s is a story of a father who is so overcome with delight that his first child has survived till the age of 5, that he decides to walk on his hands to the nearby temple and seek God’s blessing. The film’s tone and treatment were to keep genuine the powerful emotions a parent feels when his child survives. This meant shooting in a real village with real people.
The protagonist and the entire cast representing the villagers had no acting experience and never been in front of the camera ever before. This also meant overcoming the language barriers between the crew and the cast and ensuring nothing was lost in translation. HUL wanted to tip their hat to their lead character, who not only walked on his hands but also gave them a brilliant emotional performance despite having never acted before.
Results:
Reach
The campaign generated 16 million YouTube views.
Social Impact
Diarrhoea incidence in Thesgora fell 74% as the handwashing rate tripled
Donations Received
20 children’s lives were saved and 20 million rupees in donations were received.
