Cannes Lions

#MorePaternityLeave

HOY, Buenos Aires / ELA (LATIN AMERICAN TEAM ON JUSTICE AND GENDER) / 2019

Presentation Image
Case Film
Case Film

Overview

Entries

Credits

Overview

Background

In Argentina, fathers currently have only two days of parental leave, one of the lowest in the world.

Studies have demonstrated that the lack of shared co-parenting responsibility reduces female participation in the country’s work force all the while increasing the prominence of gender roles and machismo.

We decided to contribute to the cause by putting our communication muscle to it service, and we joined forces with ELA, an NGO who has been fighting for Gender equality to improve women’s social, political and economic situation.

We needed to go way beyond the usual awareness campaign. We had to find something new that had never been done before and that would make the message stick, literary.

We saw an opportunity in the city's priority seating signs used in public transport where all figures shown are of pregnant women and women with children.

Idea

In Argentina, paternity leave is one of the lowest in the world: 2 days. We decided to bring attention to this injustice to provoke a national debate and change this situation all the while helping ELA, the NGO championing the cause, get some attention.

To give visibility to this problem, we decided to intervene in a place that has been historically assigned to women: the public transport posters for reserved seats.

We created a sticker with the appearance of reserved seating posters, but replacing the figure of the mother with one of a male.

Every once a person sticked it on buses, trains or subways, we helped our claim to reach all corners of the country.

Strategy

To give visibility to this problem, we decided to intervene in a place that has been historically assigned to women: the public transport posters for reserved seats.

We needed to go way beyond the usual awareness campaign with paternalistic messages distributed all over the usual media spectrum. We had to find something new that had never been done before and that would make the message stick, literary.

That´s we created a sticker with the appearance of reserved seating posters, but replacing the figure of the mother with one of a male.

Execution

We started by producing a sticker for people to stick them on the priority seating signs and we distributed them around bus stops, metro stations and universities. The stickers came with a flyer explaining the initiative.

We created a dedicated website where you could get information about the initiative and where you could also download the sticker.

We launched short videos about the initiative along with instructions on ELA’s Social Media channels, and on Instagram we created digital stickers for people to use on their Instagram Stories.

We also approached various celebrities and influencers who helped viralize one of our FB posts.

Finally, we launched a PR campaign and approached the main TV and News networks who in turn, presented our initiative in prime time and front pages.

Outcome

Hundreds of men and women joined us in a sticking frenzy to change the priority seating sings in public transportation.

The action launched the conversation we were all hoping for as it spread on social media and national news channels.

We garnered:

+998MM impressions in social media

9.6MM earned media

We were trending Topic within the first 24hs

In one week, we reached every important national media in Argentina

TV: Canal 13, Televisión Pública, C5n, TN and CNN in Spanish

Newspapers: La Nación, Clarín, Infobae, Tiempo Argentino, etc.

And the most important of all, our message was heard by the legislators of Buenos Aires City (Argentina´s Capital) as they extended the paternity leave to 45 days in the city.