Our social & influencer strategy became vital in driving conversation, allowing Lebanese women to take part in the movement. We used the LinkedIn job platform to headhunt the new miss. The hashtag opened the conversation on all social platforms trending for several days and the sash filter on instagram became a tool for creative expression.

Contestant became activist influencers in their own right, handpicked to help inspire others to speak up. While they were able to bring their causes and passions to the stage, the winner eventually went beyond it, bringing her concerns to world leaders and millions of followers.

The crisis in Lebanon has reached an all-time high, with more than half of the population under the poverty line, the Lebanese pound losing 95% of its value with no signs of stopping, and complete governmental negligence towards the safety of its people. This has particularly affected Lebanese women, struggling under the control of a male-dominated government that always leaves them fighting for their most basic rights. Despite all this, in 2022, the Lebanese government announced the Miss Lebanon pageant would return, after a 4-year hiatus. LBCI wanted to draw attention to the problems that continue to riddle the country in a non-violent way that empowered the people leading protests–women. So instead of going forward with a tone-deaf beauty pageant, LBCI transformed it into a way to shine a spotlight on Lebanon’s problems and demand the government make changes.

How does one launch a beauty pageant amidst a political and economic crisis, in a country where women are still fighting for their basic rights? We added one transformative word to its title: ‘We’ Miss Lebanon. Within its simplicity a powerful change of course took place, one where LBCI turned a typical beauty pageant focused on appearances, into an influential political statement. In the #WeMissLebanon pageant, women would not just showcase their beauty, but their country’s as well, echoing the yearning nostalgic sentiments of the Lebanese both at home and abroad. ‘We’ Miss Lebanon also made a clear statement about the oppression of women in Lebanese society, while also calling out an oppressive male-dominated government and demanding it restore Lebanon to its former glory.

The Miss Lebanon pageant on LBCI as a brand has always enjoyed a high degree of popularity. It was a highly publicized and much-awaited event for the Lebanese. However, with the ongoing crisis, the Miss Lebanon pageant was halted for four years prior to this campaign, and its return was controversial amongst the citizens in the country. We wanted to turn the national event into one with a deeper purpose, to get the message across to those we feel can advance women’s freedoms, by giving a platform to female activists that inspire others to raise their voices and fight for their rights. We wanted to call on the everyday Lebanese queen, with a powerful reminder of her power and resilience in our society, offering her the space to advocate for a country that is losing its identity day after day.

The campaign initiated a digital activism activation, launching a filter on social media that adorned those who use it with a sash carrying our slogan “We Miss Lebanon”. We also edited these sashes onto iconic photos of women activists, protestors and others who cleaned the streets after the explosion and cooked for those who lost their homes. Using both conventional and out-of-the-box methods to push this campaign forward, our sash appeared on a commercial on a prominent Lebanese television channel, as well as on outdoor activations, social media platforms, print outlets, and finally, and most impactfully, on the center stage of the pageant. We also scoured LinkedIn for the contestants of the pageant, concluding with an impressive selection of accomplished female activists and representatives. The hashtag #wemisslebanon spread all over social media, and the words stood center stage during the show.

The #WeMissLebanon campaign stirred the hearts of the Lebanese not only at home,

but abroad. People flooded online platforms with positive sentiments, and openly expressed their hopeful thoughts and opinions towards the country they lost. Analytics found many Lebanese expats engaged passionately with the campaign by using our hashtag on social platforms.

The elected queen wore her sash for meetings with top government officials, further shifting traditional standards of beauty into ones associated with fearlessness, standing for freedom, and confronting rampant injustice. The queen also went on to use her global platform to advocate and raise awareness about Lebanon’s tragic state.

#1 Trending Hashtag on Twitter

#10 Million in Earned Media Dollars

#650 + Million Impressions on Social In 3 Days

#Most Watched Tv Program on LBCI

#Coverage In Over 150 International Publications

#Over 18.5 million Views on TikTok

#A CTR of 40X on LinkedIn (exceeding the average by 3966%)