Digital for society

In the UK, 225,000 older people often go a whole week without speaking to anyone. It was time for the public to forfeit their own words in a display of empathy for the lonely elderly. So, Cadbury, backed by a heritage of bringing people together, partnered with Age UK to encourage consumers to join them to ‘Donate their words’ to the elderly. Cadbury removed its famous logo to create a brand-less limited-edition Dairy Milk chocolate bar. 30p from each bar was donated to Age UK. On social media, consumers could post wordless posts that would donate to Age UK. It also sought to encourage the public to donate their own words, by reaching out to older people in their community for a friendly chat to brighten their day. Using a partnership with Sky and comedian Sue Perkins, we placed Sue in isolation to record the brutality of old-age loneliness. We also worked with Channel 4’s programme, Gogglebox, to show the emotional reactions of the cast to videos about loneliness. Cadbury’s Dairy Milk saw a 90% increase in sales during the campaign period, showing that doing good can also be good for business.

UNO is a game that connects people in a universal way. Mattel/UNO Netherlands asked us to create a brand awareness campaign that embraced their vision of connecting people, especially children. We wanted to use this campaign to expose a serious problem: one in ten children feels lonely. We also wanted contribute to the solution in primary schools. 

To find a solution, we talked to seven- to 12-year-olds and their teachers. They gave us great insights into how games are played and what helps children play with each other. With these insights we created the UNO Playground, for primary schools to combat loneliness among children and raise awareness for this underexposed problem. It helps connect lonely children in the schoolyard with other children, so that they no longer have to play alone.

The launch was a huge success for the children, but also the start of UNO’s brand awareness campaign, using footage of the launch to create videos and posters for social media. During the campaign we realised a total online and offline reach of 24.4 million, and more than 100 applications of UNO Playground by schools. 

Bowel cancer is the second deadliest cancer in Australia with more than 100 people dying of the disease every week. There is a misconception that bowel cancer is an ‘old person’s disease’, which meant public health messages to younger Australians were not getting cut through.   

Working with Bowel Cancer Australia (BCA) we identified levers for behavioural change amongst younger people and created an attention grabbing campaign that connected and drove home educational messages. We developed a strong tone-of-voice with a humorous edge, using the voice of well-known comedian Bill Bailey, and asked Australian’s to ‘Give a s#*! About your bowel’! This crass call to action came from ‘the bowel’ itself, which had a literal presence through the clever GCI of a transparent human figure – ‘Bill Bowelly’. 

Throughout Bowel Cancer Awareness month, always-on advertising ran across TV, radio, social media, online and out of home. PR amplified the conversation at key points by unpacking the realities of bowel cancer through survivors’ stories and leveraging geographical incidence data to secure the attention of regional media.

The use of humour and a widely recognisable voice stimulated curiosity and drove conversation. Lives has undoubtedly been saved thanks to this innovative campaign. 

Philips strives to make the world healthier and more sustainable through innovation. One way of doing that, is the development of Air Treatment devices for home use. These devices make air cleaner and safer, resulting in a healthier life.

Through personalised social media and real-time air quality data, we created a unique campaign to raise awareness of Air Treatment solutions among families living in the most polluted regions of Russia. It explained how to make healthier and more sustainable living through home innovation.

In 2019, Philips ran a single digital campaign on Facebook and Instagram, showing targeted video ads with real-time air quality data for ‘below average’ and ‘low’ quality air regions in 51 cities. The personalised creative content brought the issue to the attention of over 5 million people and increased Philips Air Treatment sales in the polluted regions.

In the UK, 225,000 older people often go a whole week without speaking to anyone. It was time for the public to forfeit their own words in a display of empathy for the lonely elderly. So, Cadbury, backed by a heritage of bringing people together, partnered with Age UK to encourage consumers to join them to ‘Donate their words’ to the elderly. 

Cadbury removed its famous logo to create a brand-less limited-edition Dairy Milk chocolate bar. 30p from each bar was donated to Age UK. On social media, consumers could post wordless posts that would donate to Age UK. 

It also sought to encourage the public to donate their own words, by reaching out to older people in their community for a friendly chat to brighten their day. 

Using a partnership with Sky and comedian Sue Perkins, we placed Sue in isolation to record the brutality of old-age loneliness. We also worked with Channel 4’s programme, Gogglebox, to show the emotional reactions of the cast to videos about loneliness. 

Cadbury’s Dairy Milk saw a 90% increase in sales during the campaign period, showing that doing good can also be good for business. 

Challenge

Since Australia’s first Royal Commission into Family Violence in 2015, there’s been a rigorous focus on examining the system from the ground up, with a huge effort to transform Victoria’s response to family violence. Isobar worked with the Good Samaritan Inn to create solutions leading to a better experience for women and children, during their incredibly difficult time in crisis accommodation. 

Through co-design, Isobar ensured those staying at the Inn, staff, board members and sector experts were involved in coming up with ideas, research and prioritisation. 

Insight

Isobar uncovered that women feel an overwhelming sense of safety and comfort at the Inn. This was specifically related to the families feeling connected through a shared living model. Isobar validated challenges with the physical space, and the navigation of multiple services faced by families through the family violence system.

Solution

Isobar generated over 150 ideas and developed 90 concepts, and 30 business plans which are now being executed by the Inn. They now have a strategic roadmap that has been prioritised holistically to the impact on the experience of women and children in need. 

In the USA the largest legal challenges for low-income individuals and families usually occur in the wake of a disaster. To ease distress and aid victims with recovery, disasterlegalaid.org offers free self-help resources and connections with pro bono lawyers. This is a comprehensive national resource centre that consolidates information and advice from many disparate local governmental and legal aid organisations. However, many people are unaware of the site or the vital resources it provides, and lawyers do not know that the skills they have to offer are critically important in helping communities recover. To combat this, Dentsu Aegis created a two-pronged media campaign, to build a network of legal volunteers and to increase awareness of the centralised resources offered by disasterlegalaid.org. 

Firstly, legal professionals were targeted with a call to action to volunteer, they were reminded that there are many ways to provide pro bono help, regardless of their day-to-day work experience. This was followed with an awareness-building campaign aimed at people living in parts of the country at high risk of being impacted by floods, hurricanes, tornadoes or wildfires. 

Equitable access to justice is often seen as a problem that the legal industry must solve uniquely through pro bono volunteering. However, this campaign highlighted that leveraging the creative and data skills within the marcom industry can help improve access to justice. In this case, in the context of recovery from natural disasters, by engaging volunteers and victims in an innovative, sensitive and empathetic manner. The campaign engaged the target communities with digital, social and out-of-home content, which directed them to a dedicated landing page with special resources and information, before taking them into the disasterlegalaid.org homepage. 

The campaign was the top primary source of traffic to disasterlegalaid.org in 2019. The top locations for site traffic included at least three states impacted by recent significant/major disasters: Tropical Storm Imelda in Texas, Hurricane Michael in Florida and the wildfires in California. It also increased the number of pro bono lawyers volunteering. 

Over the past few decades, more than 100 species of fish have vanished from Taiwan. One challenge is that consumers aren’t aware that many of the 400,000 tonnes of fish in local markets caught per year are endangered species, and they can’t identify which species these are. As a magazine that promotes sustainable food culture to Taiwanese people, Taiwan Edible Magazine needed to do something to rescue this unsustainable situation.   

With the ambition of helping people make more ocean-friendly fish-purchasing decisions, and the support of many volunteers, fishery related schools and environmental NGOs, we developed the mobile web app, Fish Checker. By following three simple steps: Scan, Show and Share, users can now easily check whether a fish is endangered, and share the result through social media to spread information about these species.

In 2019, Taiwan Edible Magazine launched Fish Checker publicly for consumers. It was recommended to the general public by National Geographic’s World Ocean Day Festival, Taiwan Radio Fishery Station and schools in coastal town. With no media budget, Fish Checker has engaged over 12,000 consumers in educational events. 

Brands For Good is a coalition to make sustainable living easier and more rewarding for people around the world. Dentsu Aegis co-founded the initiative alongside National Geographic, Nestlé Waters, PepsiCo, Procter & Gamble, SAP SuccessFactors, SC Johnson, Target, Visa and Sustainable Brands. All partners have agreed to harness their brand reach, resources and influence to achieve the following goals: 

1. Embed environmental and social purpose into the heart of our brand promise, products and experiences. 
2. Use marketing, communications and brand influence to make sustainable living accessible, aspirational and rewarding. 
3. Work together to transform the field of marketing to shift behaviours and drive positive impact with people, communities and the planet we share. 

As part of the #BrandsForGood movement, research was developed which identified nine sustainable behaviours required to address what the world needs for a sustainable future. In addition, #BrandsForGood conducted consumer research to identify the consumer needs that drive these sustainable behaviours. The results have been packaged into a Toolkit for the #BrandsforGood partners, to help brand teams drive awareness and adoption of consumer choices that will fuel the shift to more sustainable living.