Insight
Donations to social causes in Colombia are low, due to the fact that historically there have been institutions that have raised money and people haven’t seen tangible results, affecting credibility. And on top of that, victims of antipersonnel landmines in Colombia have been a reality that has struck the country’s rural locations for over six decades, becoming one of the issues people know it exists but at a safe distance.
The agencies’ challenge was to overcome a low credibility in charity and get Colombians involved in a cause they knew was affecting their country but mainly in rural locations therefore feeling distant to their reality.
They found an insight in Colombia’s reality. This a country that is changing and evolving thanks to its new generations and also due to the success that iconic Colombians are archiving on a global scale. Generations of people who have lived in a restricted environment and never lived a peaceful reality are now beginning to believe that things can change, and the once unimaginable can now be possible.
Strategy
The strategy was to seek the donation and support of iconic Colombian athletes that have rewritten the country’s history in sports. These athletes represent the new and empowered Colombian generations and the newly found pride in being Colombian. Powered by several major events in the past years such as the efforts directed to signing peace agreements with terrorist groups that have been a major setback in Colombia’s progress for the past decades.
These young Colombians represent these changes and are admired to the point where people look up to them because of their capacity to surpass great obstacles and achieve their dreams. That led the agencies to believe that the donation they were going to ask them for, wasn’t money. It was the possibility of a victim not only to rehabilitate with their new leg, but to do so with the leg of an Olympic gold medallist and a top goal scorer.
It sought to draw the attention of a young audience, Colombians between 20 and 40 years. These new generations who despite not having lived in a peaceful Colombia are part of the generation that is most likely to achieve it, and for that reason are willing to contribute to the repair and reconciliation of their country.
Execution
CIREC generated a message of peace and hope, and created a way to connect an entire country with the victims of antipersonnel landmines. By using those young people who day by day are changing the perception of Colombia on a global scale, young sport leaders which uplift the country’s name on a daily basis. In order to do so the agencies began to build this campaign from the base up. They selected two victims of antipersonnel landmines who were undergoing rehabilitation in CIREC, Angie and Onofre - two young Colombians. Once they were given their prosthetic leg, they found out there was something very special about them.
These unique prosthetic legs were moulded just like Mariana Pajon’s and Juan Guillermo Cuadrado’s legs. A symbolic action in which the Olymipic gold medallist and soccer star not only sent a message to these two brave Colombians but also to an entire nation, “walk with me”, which was the declaration of a path in order to have a more optimistic Colombia.
Results
Charity fund raising: In 3 weeks it raised $14,000,000 COP (almost $5m) - starting at $0 in donations. With this amount of money it was able to help 157 more victims of land mines.
Earned media accomplishments:
Mariana Pajón 17-time world champion with 3.5MM followers on her social networks and newly signed to the Chelsea team, Juan Guillermo Cuadrado with over 4.2MM followers, were responsible for carrying the message "Walk with Me" to over 5.5 million people nationwide and a 20% increase in social media followers.
This prompted this campaign to become national news and have media coverage as part of major media editorial spaces estimated to be worth over $1,000,000 in earned buzz.
Caracol News dedicated a three minute space with a rating of 3.02% in total population, which generated an outreach of 573,792 people in the target.
El Espectador, Colombia’s second largest publisher with a weekday circulation of 95,000 copies, gave the campaign a full front-page editorial content and replied the news with two additional pages dedicated to the cause having an extra outreach of over 300,000 readers.
In addition it was replicated in other digital and media networks. To the date it is still gaining ongoing exposure in other media.