Weddings and marriages in Pakistan are major sources of entertainments, especially when it comes to fashion shows which feature bridal outfits - these are elaborate affairs which are attended by top celebrities and covered nationally by news media. We hijacked the largest of these shows to make a statement about child marriages through a stunt experienced by a live audience.

Child marriages are frequently permitted in Pakistan under religious reasons. Attempts by human-rights groups to raise the minimum age of marriage to 18 have been shut down by religious groups. Any communication around banning child marriages are immediately attacked as unIslamic.

According to numerous medical research reports, child marriages lead to highly complicated health issues for girls: both physical and mental. Our campaign's goal was to get the government to implement a minimum marriageable age of 18 as law: an act that would be incredibly life-changing for thousands of Pakistani girls.

Pakistan has one of the worst records of child marriages in the world. Almost a quarter of all Pakistani women in the last ten years have been married before the age of 18, some even at the age of 6. Pregnancies resulting from early marriages cause severe health complications - girls under 18 years are twice as likely to die in childbirth, while infants born to mothers under 16 have a 60% chance of death.

Despite this, bills to raise the legal marriage age to 18 have been rejected previously by the government on religious grounds.

Our objectives were to:

- Create a stir around the issue that would reach parliamentary figures, and ultimately influence lawmakers to raise the minimum marriage age.

- Raise awareness and change people’s mindset regarding this issue so they actually educate their daughters rather than getting them married.

The strategic insight to the creative idea came from the typical Pakistani bride's elaborate wedding outfit. Every year, the Pakistani bridal-wear industry hosts large events which are attended by celebrities and have extensive media coverage. One could say that the bridal gown is treated itself as a uniform for a bride.

We took this audience insight and connected it to the other uniform a girl wears: to her school. By merging the two, we formed a new strategic way into fighting early marriages - through the argument of education: the Bridal Uniform was thus created by fusing wedding gown embroidery with a schoolgirl's uniform.

The World Bank Report states that one of the best ways to end child marriage is to keep girls in school. The longer a girl stays in school, the less likely she is to be married before the age of 18 and have children during her teenage years. Our strategy was to focus on the girl student and highlight the loss of education through early marriages.

As a media strategy, by disrupting a platform like the Bridal Couture Week, where brides are meant to be celebrated, we were able to piggyback on the media wave that followed the event, completely hijacking the conversation around it.

The campaign targeted people on two levels. Through the stunt, we first targeted Pakistani influencers and media personnel who could spread the conversation that built pressure to influence policymakers. And second, through on-ground sessions, directly addressing the masses where these practices were widely prevalent.

We collaborated with the country's leading bridal-wear designer Ali Xeeshan to create The Bridal Uniform: Ali meticulously researched bridal embroidery patterns to find the right balance between a school uniform and a bride's gown. Golden embroidery was hand sown into a typical government school uniform.

We then hijacked the platform of the country’s biggest bridal fashion show: The Bridal Couture Show. As the showstopper of the night, amidst bejeweled adult brides in elaborate gowns, and with the nation's top fashion bloggers recording, out walked on the ramp a little girl wearing a schoolgirl's uniform embellished with beautiful traditional bridal motifs, shocking audiences both live and watching on broadcast.

The stunt led to an online petition and was followed by on ground educational activations.

The disruptive live stunt went viral and generated almost 500,000,000 social and news-media impressions, more than any campaign for this cause has ever done in Pakistan.

Senator S.Kamran took note of our campaign by name while proposing a bill to raise the legal marriage age to 18. The Islamic Council in turn proposed a groundbreaking amendment: a girl will not be legally allowed to leave her parents’ house in marriage until she turned 18. More recently, the Pakistani Senate approved a bill for raising the marriageable age to 18. The campaign further led to the police no longer turning a blind eye to underage marriages: arrests were made of people who were involved in such practices.

It is pertinent to note that while the campaign generated millions of dollars in media coverage, the dress cost only under $100 to make, using existing school uniform samples and inexpensive bridal embroidery motifs.