Cannes Lions

Ebola Hijack

FLEISHMAN-HILLARD JOHANNESBURG, Johannesburg / AFRICAN UNION / 2016

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Overview

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OVERVIEW

Description

To grab the attention of a public suffering from ‘charity fatigue’, we knew the campaign had to disrupt. It had to disrupt everything we know about fund raising.

With this single objective in mind, the idea of subverting the concept of Clickbait was born.

Clickbait is an old concept, a tactic used by advertising agencies and media outlets to drive website clicks and advertising sales. Through listicals, sensational headlines and clickbait, we have seen media outlets like Buzzfeed rise to fame.

Our idea was to hijack this tactic and use it for good: The great ‘Ebola Hijack’.

By serving the public headlines they had shown a proclivity to click on, then redirect them to our cause, we forced them to reflect on their online behavior and, most importantly, on the difference they could make by making a donation.

Execution

Our PR-led campaign not only engaged supporters as high profile as President Jacob Zuma and Liverpool defender Kolo Touré amongst many other key inflluencers, it also achieved free-to-air play of our campaign TVC on tier one broadcast media, such as CNN and Al Jazeera.

Our Clickbait media execution was as simple as it was cunningly effective. Through Clickbait we hijacked clicks on inane, but nonetheless captivating content - from surfing squirrels to Taylor Swift versus NIcki Minaj - and took them instead to our Africa Against Ebola fund raising campaign, requesting a one dollar donation for their click. As we expected, some people took exception to the practice, but most, on reflection of their browsing habits, highlighted by #YOUAREWHATYOUSHARE, took the opportunity to make a difference, and make a donation.

Outcome

• By cutting through charity fatigue, changing behavior and generating donations we put 1,000 health care workers on the ground in Sierra Leone, Guinea and Liberia

• The campaign secured free to air play of our TVC across global and regional news outlets such as CNN and Al Jazeera.

• The campaign engaged influencers, celebrities and heads of state including President Jacob Zuma, and Liverpool defender Kolo Touré, to name a few

• Our ‘deception’ angered some, but our 24/7 response team managed this, opening doors, changing minds and taking people from Clickbait to reflection, to campaign engagement

• We generated hundreds of earned tier one media pieces of content across three markets.

• 100 million impressions, 2 million online engagements, over 500,000 app engagements

• We grew the Africa Against Ebola community from zero to over 62,000 engaged supporters within two months

• US$34 million raised to contain Ebola.

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