Title	BROADCAST WITHOUT BORDERS
Brand	REFUGEE PHONES
Product/Service	NON-PROFIT ORGANIZATION
Category	A06. Connected Devices
Entrant	ÅKESTAM HOLST Stockholm, SWEDEN
Idea Creation	ÅKESTAM HOLST Stockholm, SWEDEN
Media Placement	ÅKESTAM HOLST Stockholm, SWEDEN
PR	ÅKESTAM HOLST Stockholm, SWEDEN
Production	ÅKESTAM HOLST Stockholm, SWEDEN
Additional Company	FLICKORNA LARSSON Stockholm, SWEDEN

Name	Company	Position
Magnus Jakobsson	Åkestam Holst	Creative Director
Eva Wallmark	Åkestam Holst	Art Director
Desiré Engström	Åkestam Holst	Copywriter
Mouddar Kouli	Åkestam Holst	Producer
Eric Karlsson	Åkestam Holst	Motion Director
Digge Zetterberg Odh	Åkestam Holst	PR
Nicholas Baines	Deliberate	PR
Benedict Bunyard	Deliberate	PR
Gustav Martner	Refugee Phones	Advertiser's Supervisor

The Campaign

March 21st is Mothers Day in Syria. On this day we made it possible for Syrian refugees to get in touch with their moms in their home country. We invited them to call our ”Mothers Day Hotline” using mobile to leave personal messages for their mothers. Then we re-packaged these messages as ”radio-ads”, bought media space on Syrian radio and broadcasted these messages all over Syria. In short: We hacked bad phone connections by marrying mobile and radio.

Creative Execution

March 21st is Mothers Day in Syria. On this day we made it possible for Syrian refugees to contact their mothers in Syria. We invited them to record messages containing a mothers day greeting by calling our Mothers Day Hotline. The Hotline was communicated directly to newly arrived refugees by posters, and on relevant social media groups and information sites targeted at refugees. And the messages started dropping in. For obvious reasons commercial radio in Syria is on a decline. So, we managed to buy media space from the Syrian radio station Fuse Fm, an independent station also popular among the target group, Syrian moms. A lot of media space. We re-packaged and produced our Mother´s day greetings as ”radio-ads” for commercial radio. Over 150 radio spots were then broadcasted in the commercial breaks on Syrian Mother´s Day, and the

Over 150 radio spots were broadcasted in Syria on Mothers day and during the week leading up to it. The campaign also got a lot of media attention with feature articles in Fast Company, Huffington Post, Newsweek and almost every major newspaper in Sweden wrote about it. And emotional interviews with Syrian refugees who sent personal messages to Syria were broadcasted on TV4, Swedens biggest commercial tv-network. Putting a spotlight on Refugee Phones and how they help people to reach out, no matter what. And above all, putting a spotlight on the possibility to take part of the project as a refugee from Syria. The campaign highlighted how humanity can reach across any border and put a boot in the side of xenophobia. From phone to air, and from heart to heart. It reminded everybody of our shared bonds of family and humanity in these troubled times.

To turn personal messages of love into mass communication. We augmented the offering of Refugee Phones - providing donated cell phones to newly arrived refugees - by turning personal voice mail messages into broadcast radio sent all across Syria. By using radio we made it possible for refugees to reach out to their mothers and families left behind in Syria; families rendered unreachable by phone and not knowing if their children had made it safely to their destinations. And the day we did it was March 21st - Mother’s Day in Syria. Our aim was both to connect families driven apart by war and forced beyond the reach of digital technology, and to remind everybody in Sweden and Europe of our shared bonds of family and humanity in these troubled times.