THE HUMAN BILLBOARD

Short List
TitleTHE HUMAN BILLBOARD
BrandLE CRAN
Product/ServiceANTI RACISM CAMPAIGN
Category A02. Creative Effectiveness for Good
Entrant LEO BURNETT FRANCE Paris, FRANCE
Idea Creation LEO BURNETT FRANCE Paris, FRANCE
Credits
Name Company Position
Mohamed Bareche Leo Burnett France Art Director
Montassar Chlaika Leo Burnett France Copywriter
Clement Bellanger Leo Burnett France Assistant Art Director
Julien Divialle Leo Burnett France Digital Art Director
Emmanuelle Cabrera Leo Burnett France Digital social strategist
Clement Langlais Blacktool Director
Brieuc Dupont Blacktool Director
Adrienne Marquet Blacktool Production manager
Anne Rabasse Leo Burnett France PR manager
Cecile Ravaux Leo Burnett France PR manager
Olivier Guerbois Blacktool DOP
Vincent Laxenaire Blacktool Make-up artist
Anna Delcroix Blacktool Make-up artist
Celine Barrere Blacktool Photographer
Cécile Simon Blacktool Photographer

Please provide a 500 word summary of your entry below.

The Front National, France’s extreme right party, had just qualified for the second round of the presidential election with 22% of the votes. With a long history of bigoted commentary, the party was openly advancing a racist agenda, and making racist discourse more acceptable. CRAN is an organisation that fights for the rights of black citizens in France. They have long opposed the rising tide of racism in the country. The Human Billboard shows in a shocking way the indelible marks that racist comments leave on their victims. The CRAN (a non-profit organization that fights for the rights of black citizens) asked on its social media platforms for people to share the racist insults that had left an emotional scar in their soul. We took those insults and tattooed them on the body of a black man who walked the streets of Paris the day after the presidential elections to to show France and the whole world the harmful marks that racism leaves on its victims. We knew that for our message to have a real impact, it had to be delivered at a moment of change in the country. That’s why we selected the day after the French primary election to launch the Human Billboard. So that people on both sides of the political spectrum would be forced to think hard about the effects of their vote on minorities when heading back to the polls, 15 days later for the final election. In only a few hours, with ZERO media investment, one man walking through Place de la République – our Human Billboard – had already travelled around the world. With articles on over 150 international news sites spanning five continents, earning 3,7 B media impressions, and creating more than 1.2 million reactions (shares, likes, and comments) on social media. The PR from the ad was so far-reaching, it even evoked an angry reaction from the Front National’s number 2, Florian Philippot, on Twitter. The most important thing, however, is that donations to CRAN increased 2000%, taking us one step closer to erasing racism. Finally, the extreme right lost the elections and with this campaign, the Cran contributed to influence voters to use their right to vote.