When UNICEF were making the transition towards becoming a rights-focused organisation, they spoke to me about the problem of child marriage – something that affects 37,000 girls every day.
They wanted to know if there was an opportunity to create a cost-effective campaign to raise awareness about this violation and recruit new donors.
The answer was yes (the answer is always yes). We decided the best time to launch this campaign would be around the upcoming Royal Wedding, at a time when marriage would be the talk of the country.
The result was the integrated campaign that you can see here: a mobile donation campaign that beat its financial target.
This campaign was boosted by a PR stunt, for which we created a satirical, ceremonial plate featuring an old man and a young bride and sent it to a number of journalists. We asked the journalists to write about the subject to give it much-needed publicity. This led to double page spreads in the Guardian and Grazie magazine.
I appreciate that cultural traditions are never to be criticised lightly. But the UN Convention of the Rights of the Child is a treaty that has been ratified by every civilised nation (only the United States has declined) and is not a matter of subjectivity. It is legally a matter of right and wrong.
Agency: Rapp