One of the biggest quirks about humanity is that we trivialise the simplest and most basic habits, such as handwashing that can help prevent the spread of infections. Globally, a staggering 4 out of 5 people were not washing hands after using the bathroom. Even in the current pandemic handwashing rates dropped dramatically after an initial spike. With the world emerging from lockdown and people returning to life, how could we futureproof the world against pandemics? We bucked conventional advertising approaches to infiltrate early childhood education to hardcode handwashing as one of the first things children learn in life.

Amid the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, the importance of handwashing with soap was thrust into the global spotlight. Yet, several studies showed that though handwashing rates picked up initially, they also started to decline in the middle of the pandemic. Not surprising as this has been an ongoing struggle for over 100 years across various pandemics.

With the world emerging from lockdown, embedding good handwashing habits has never been more critical. Even the WHO has appealed to all governments, community and faith leaders, private sector partners to take the lead in promoting hand hygiene; or we risk a deadly, continuous cycle of COVID-19 and the genesis of further pandemics.

Lifebuoy, the brand that runs the world’s largest behaviour change programmes on handwashing, sought to future-proof the world against pandemics by encouraging the world to adopt the correct handwashing habits. For life.

Globally, public campaigns on handwashing are aimed at educating people about the proper steps in handwashing. They assume that people recognise the importance of handwashing and need information on how to do it properly. Executions of these campaigns are usually found in posters placed in common handwashing areas in malls, workplaces and public spaces. When the client briefed us to build upon the impact and reach its long-running behaviour change programmes on handwashing, we knew that another campaign wouldn't cut it. We had to go beyond the typical reach of advertising and the usual paid media spots. We had to go beyond the tried-and-tested methods in communications and make our ways into early childhood education.

In order to future-proof humanity against pandemics, we identified a precise primary target audience: Pre-school and primary school kids. To reach them, we needed to engage a secondary target audience: Schools, Ministries of Education and NGOs. They were the most important partners and the true ‘influencers’ for our task.

The insight: The first lessons of life are the ones that are hardcoded in us. UNICEF’s early childhood development research demonstrates that supporting the right interventions in the early years of life significantly bolsters development. Early learning and language skills go hand in hand in establishing patterns and memory.

Our strategic approach, then, was to hardcode handwashing in one of the first lessons we all learn. A simple intervention that would introduce the concept of handwashing to children at the right age, making it a widespread and common habit that is learnt early but can last a lifetime.

We developed one of the simplest, most scalable and most effortless to execute ideas: ‘H for Handwashing’. It focuses on how, for generations, children have been taught letters of the alphabet through simple associations with everyday references such as ‘A’ for Apple, ‘B’ for Ball and ‘C’ for Cat. Lessons they never forget. Ever. The idea is simply this: Lifebuoy wants to fundamentally change how the letter ‘H’ is taught. No longer will ‘H’ stand for Horse, Hat or even Home. ‘H’ must stand for Handwashing. A simple intervention that introduces the concept of handwashing to children at the right age, making it a widespread and common habit that is learnt early but lasts a lifetime.

At the inception stage, the biggest victory of the campaign was for governments to actually change the 100-plus-year-old curriculum.

The Department of Basic Education, South Africa, Unicef and Unilever signed a ‘Joint Declaration of Intent’ to forever change the way the letter H is taught.

The teaching material reached over 10,000 schools in Africa; 400 schools and 10,000 Anganwadi centres in India, reaching out to almost 7.2 million learners in Africa and India. In addition, 10,000 schools in Sri Lanka conducted a national art competition on the 'H for Handwashing' theme.

In 24 hours, Lifebuoy achieved 20 million organic impressions for 'H for Handwashing'.

It won the support of more than a hundred celebrities and key opinion leaders including F1 team McLaren and IPL players.

The campaign reached over 124 million people and earned an estimated PR value of €2.1 million.

Lifebuoy was founded when the world was facing a pandemic of a different kind: Cholera. With the mission to 'make cleanliness commonplace', Lord William Lever developed a soap with disinfectant properties that gave people an accessible and effective way to prevent the spreading of deadly cholera in 1894. Little did anyone know, Lord Lever had created an icon that answered similar calls over the years - from helping to keep soldiers clean in World Wars to running the world's biggest handwashing programme reaching over 1 billion people. In 2013, Lifebuoy adopted a village in central India to help every child living there reach their fifth birthday. Lifebuoy's heritage as a public service brand, educating and protecting people from germs, bacteria, and viruses set it apart from all other hygiene brands globally and made it the world's No. 1 selling germ protection soap brand.