Vaccine hesitancy – the reluctance to vaccinate despite the availability of vaccines – has increasingly become a global pandemic. In fact, the World Health Organization has ranked vaccine hesitancy as one of the top 10 health threats in the world for 2019.

Clearly, vaccination is important, but rather than scare people into awareness, we wanted to create something positive and universally accessible.

These posters, as part of a global vaccine awareness campaign for UNICEF to promote #VaccinesWork, illustrate the protection vaccines provide in a way that’s simple enough to be immediately understood around the world.

Our creative solution was to convey the importance and effectiveness of vaccination in an unmistakably simple way. Once we realized that an arm administering a vaccine to a child could provide a metaphorical barrier of protection, we knew we had something that would resonate across languages and cultures. With the help of some light-hearted illustration, we chose to show kids in aspirational roles as a vaccine safeguards them from clear and logical antagonists.

It was important to us to reflect a range of ethnicities in the work, both for diversity, and global distribution. In keeping with the inclusiveness already present in the campaign, we decided to showcase a collection of artistic styles as well, which is why each execution was illustrated by a different artist from around the world.

Because of the global nature of the campaign, we chose to work with five different illustrators from around the world of different ethnicities and genders, giving them each a chance to provide their interpretation on the basic construct of the idea. We wanted to express a range of styles and techniques, running the stylistic gamut from hand-drawn storybook to CGI, while allowing the positivity and simplicity of the underlying message to tie them together as a campaign.

Beginning in April 2019, these posters were distributed digitally to UNICEF offices worldwide, where each office printed locally and began using them in a “free format” way. They were shared with doctor offices, hospitals, clinics and other partner companies to begin driving awareness in advance of World Vaccination Week (April 24 – 30). The posters were featured in paid placements as well during World Vaccination Week.

The campaign was distributed to UNICEF offices worldwide and translated into several languages, including Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Hindi, Russian, and Spanish. Countries include the US, Europe, Japan, and China, with a specific focus on Bangladesh, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Ethiopia, India, Indonesia, Kenya, Nigeria, Philippines, Romania, Uganda, and Ukraine. Due to the close timing of World Vaccination Week and the Cannes Lions deadline, measured engagement results are not yet available.