Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF): MSF.TV

Credits & Description:

Advertiser: MÉDECINS SANS FRONTIERÈS
Agency: REPUBLIC OF EVERYONE
Category: Best Use of Branded Content & Sponsorship
Advertising campaign: MSF.TV
Creative Director: Ben Akers (Republic Of Everyone)
Head Of Digital: Brigham Glaser (Heckler Digital)
Brand And Marketing Coordinator: Caroline Simpson (Médecins Sans Frontierès)
Producer: Fran Tinley (Radical Media)
Head Of Communications: James Nichols (Médecins Sans Frontierès)
Founder/Partner: Ben Peacock (Republic Of Everyone)
Senior Motion Designer: Luke Carvell (Heckler Digital)
Managing Director: Ian Fowler (Radical Media)
Sound Designer: Tone Ashton (Heckler Digital)
Executive Producer: Will Alexander (Heckler Digital)
Communications Strategist: Andy Wray (Republic Of Everyone)
Animation Producer: Bonnie Law (Heckler Digital)
Executive Producer: Holly Alexander (Radical Media)
Account Manager: Lucy Jackson (Republic Of Everyone)
Head Of Strategy: Scott Matyus-Flynn (Republic Of Everyone)
Founder/Director: Valentina Zarew (The Bravery)
Founder/PR Director: Claire Maloney (The Bravery)
Account Director: Claudia Hirschberger (Republic Of Everyone)
Senior Designer: Eli Buxeda (Republic Of Everyone)
Design Director: Giles Kershaw (Republic Of Everyone)

Effectiveness
The communications activity garnered not only local but international engagement, including the Australian Prime Minister, Julia Gillard, giving the campaign an accolade through her social media channels. Unprompted awareness among MSF key audiences rose by 200%, which doubled the campaign target and it reached a total of over 2 million people in circulation, which was well above the communications KPI.

Strategy
Médecins Sans Frontierès’ job is to provide humanitarian aid to over a billion people in crisis. Our job, was to increase awareness of their work among key opinion-formers such as politicians, the media and the 'hero' and 'sage' audiences in Australia to make Médecins Sans Frontierès the go-to authority on medical humanitarian aid information. Established in 1971 by a group of Doctors and Journalists, their independent, impartial and sometimes outspoken approach to humanitarian aid is truly unique. We created a platform where they could stay true to their roots and “Go where others don’t.” MSF.TV was a live, online TV channel bringing to the forefront a range of humanitarian issues that mainstream media either dilute or shy away from. Live news in the form of documentaries, interviews and debates were aired every day for a month and were hosted by a selection of Australia's leading journalists.

Execution
The media team interpreted the idea of a live humanitarian aid online news channels as an ambitious and extremely relevant way of cutting through the current media landscape. Implementation channels were employed to draw attention to the TV channel included recruiting a series of well-known and respected media identities to partake in the conversation i.e. George Negus & Bob Carr. A media partnership with Fairfax also ensured cut through daily via their TV channels. A strategic PR implementation plan included blogger outreach, social media support and PR implementation.