Title	DRAW THE LINE AGAINST MALARIA
Brand	MALARIA NO MORE
Product/Service	MALARIA NO MORE
Category	B03. Multi-market Strategy
Entrant	ISOBAR Amsterdam, THE NETHERLANDS
Idea Creation	ISOBAR Amsterdam, THE NETHERLANDS
Idea Creation 2	DENTSU BENELUX Amsterdam, THE NETHERLANDS
Idea Creation 3	DENTSUACHTUNG! Amsterdam, THE NETHERLANDS
Media Placement	DENTSU AEGIS NETWORK Amsterdam, THE NETHERLANDS
Media Placement 2	CARAT Amsterdam, THE NETHERLANDS
Media Placement 3	IPROSPECT Amsterdam, THE NETHERLANDS
Media Placement 4	POSTERSCOPE NETHERLANDS Amsterdam, THE NETHERLANDS
Production	BLACK DOG FILMS London, UNITED KINGDOM
Production 2	RSA FILMS London, UNITED KINGDOM
Production 3	JM FILMS Lagos, UNITED KINGDOM
Production 4	LOBO London, UNITED KINGDOM
Additional Company	MALARIA NO MORE UK London, UNITED KINGDOM

Name	Company	Position
Daniel Sytsma	dentsu International & dentsuACHTUNG!	Global Chief Design Officer
Ronald Ng	Isobar	Global Chief Creative Officer
Anna Lungley	dentsu International	Global Chief Sustainability Officer
Caroline Dean	Isobar	Global Chief Marketing Officer
Michael Zylstra	dentsu International	Chief Strategy Officer SSA
Kika Douglas	dentsuACHTUNG!	Executive Creative Director
Sam Souen	dentsuACHTUNG!	Creative Director
Jasper Janssen	dentsuACHTUNG!	Creative Director
Alberto Talegon	Isobar	Creative Director
Isaiah Iraya	Isobar	Creative Director
Yash Deb	Isobar	Creative Director
Arun Balagopal	Isobar	Creative Director
Kara Prosser	Isobar	Research Lead
Láolú Senbanjo	Láolú Senbanjo	Art Director
Daniel Bunde	dentsuACHTUNG!	Creative
Teresa Makori	Isobar	Creative
Anne Cheruiyot	dentsu International	Creative
Bart Heideman	dentsuACHTUNG!	Designer
Miles Salé	dentsuACHTUNG!	Designer
Lorenzo Angelone	dentsuACHTUNG!	Designer
Gabre Minkah	Gabre Minkah	Global Programme Lead
Alexandra Lima	Alexandra Lima	Project Manager

Why is this work relevant for Creative Strategy?

‘Draw the line against malaria’ was a pivoting point for our client Malaria No More, where the charity shifted its focus from donor markets to the communities directly affected, requiring a mindshift in how it targeted it’s audience. Through this campaign the creative strategy defined how our client reached, interacted and spoke - moving away from the typical NGO western focused ‘cry for help’ to a bolder pan-African ‘call to action’ which would ignite a movement.

Background

Malaria is the world’s oldest and deadliest disease and kills a child every two minutes. But it is both preventable and curable. In 2020 the case for action became even more critical with predictions by the World Health Organisation that the COVID-19 pandemic could cause deaths related to malaria to double. Whilst the Commonwealth leaders have committed to halve the number of cases by 2023, attitudes to malaria have become normalised both internationally and within the communities directly affected. To show that Malaria was anything but normal, urgent action was needed. Malaria No More asked us to create a way to reach a pan african audience to pressure world leaders to put Malaria back on the political agenda - to make sure they will be the last generation to ever see Malaria.

Interpretation (30% of vote)

Malaria No More’s ask was inherently different to a typical NGO campaign requiring a shift in thinking and approach. The standard format for such campaigns target western audiences using an outside-in approach, typically looking at the plight of those affected. In these cases celebrity endorsements are used to communicate key messages and often deliver short term results. A pan-African campaign however, with an aim to raise the disease on the political agenda required creating an authentic and ownable message and a campaign that could act as a long term vehicle for change. To do this we developed a theory of change to demonstrate that a culturally relevant awareness campaign executed within Africa, that emboldens and empowers, could tackle the normalised attitudes, creating an activist spirit that could pave the way for a larger scale movement.

Insight / Breakthrough Thinking (30% of vote)

The breakthrough in our approach came through our understanding of how to communicate our message, given the fact that Africa has the youngest population in the world with over 60% under the age of 25. By conducting working sessions with samples of the market we were able to identify that this was an audience that were proud of the cultural zeitgeist of African culture and were eager to take control of the narrative. With these insights in mind, it became clear that the traditional charity ‘cry for help’ wouldn’t give us the impact we needed as this was an audience that wouldn’t settle for pity. Instead we would have to develop a campaign with a rallying ‘call to action’. We looked to the world of art, music, fashion, and entertainment to connect to the public on a cultural level, creating a campaign that would highlight the energy, creativity, and positivity

Creative Idea (20% of vote)

To answer the brief we created ‘Draw The Line Against Malaria’ which combined an interactive digital platform, and brought to life through a powerful film and fashion collaborations. Together these demonstrate young people taking charge of their lives and refusing to allow malaria to steal their futures. The centre piece of this was “The Muundo” which is a modern celebration of Africa’s oldest line art form. This was created in collaboration with Nigerian artist, activist and lawyer, Láolú Sebanjo, known worldwide for his use of visually compelling body painting to shed light on important issues. The Muundo was used in our campaign to create a modular digital platform that allowed people from all over the world to add their own line to a crowdsourced piece of art; a collective call to end malaria. This collaborative, multichannel and culturally relevant approach enabled us to ignite the conversation and reinvigorate the cause

Outcome / Results (20% of vote)

The campaign launched in early 2021, was a time where many diseases struggled to be top of mind for the public. However, with 5.4 billion impressions and 20,300,000 views we were able to cut through and reach our key target group multiple times. The campaign was included in policy discussions in Rwanda, Zambia and Kenya 25 times, in addition to the Commonwealth reaffirming its commitment to halving malaria cases by 2023. Furthermore 76 governments and NGOS used the campaign on World Malaria Day creating a global call to end malaria. A youth survey of Kenya and Nigeria in May 2021 found: - Young people who say ‘ending malaria is a priority for my future’ increased from 29% to 41% - 69% of youth surveyed believe Malaria can be eliminated in their country: 70% found the campaign empowering. - Young people considering the eradication of malaria as the highest ‘priority level

Please tell us how the work was designed / adapted for a multiple country / region / market.

We worked with our local offices to organise workshop sessions to tease out local attitutes and pre-test messaging. The work has been developed as a global campaign with a pan-african focus, therefore delivered in multiple languages. Our media teams negotiated free media, orchestrated from a global perspective, activated through our local offices in the SSA region. We created a true movement, with over 1.4 billion impressions to date and over 3 million dollars in free media space donated to support the campaign, generating over 7.5 million video views and over 2 million site visits. Furthermore we deployed an influencer strategy with over 50 local influencers across the region generating over 24.7 million campaign engagements.