UNICEF (United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund): SREYNET

Credits & Description:

Category: Charities, Public Health & Safety, Public Awareness Messages

Advertiser: UNICEF

Product/Service: CHILDREN'S RIGHTS CAMPAIGN

Agency: RAPP UK

Date of First Appearance: Feb 22 2010 12:00AM

Entrant Company: RAPP UK, London, UNITED KINGDOM

Director: Adrian Moat (RSA)

Art Director: Michael Jones (RAPP)

Writer: Robbie Rae (RAPP)

Producer: Debbie Garvey (RSA)

Agency Producer: Melissa Beeson (RAPP)

Sound Engineer: Chris Batten (ZOO)

Editor: James Rossen (Final Cut)

Director of Photography: Mark Pattern (RSA)

Post Production: The Mill

Executive Creative Director: Barney Cockerell (RAPP)

Creative Director: Chad Warner (RAPP)

Art Director: John Bjergfeldt (RAPP)

Media placement: DRTV Campaign - 60" And 10" Tail - Channel 4 North - 22 February 2010

Media placement: DRTV Campaign - 60" And 10" Tail - Channel 4 Scotland - 22 February 2010

Media placement: DRTV Campaign - 60" And 10" Tail - Film 24 - 22 February 2010

Media placement: DRTV Campaign - 60" And 10" Tail - True Movies - 22 February 2010

Media placement: DRTV Campaign - 60" And 10" Tail - Wedding Channel - 22 February 2010

Media placement: DRTV Campaign - 60" And 10" Tail - Alibi - 22 February 2010

Media placement: DRTV Campaign - 60" And 10" Tail - Blighty - 22 February 2010

Media placement: DRTV Campaign - 60" And 10" Tail - Gold - 22 February 2010

Media placement: DRTV Campaign - 60" And 10" Tail - Good Food - 22 February 2010

Media placement: DRTV Campaign - 60" And 10" Tail - HOME - 22 February 2010



Results and Effectiveness

To bring the reality of the situation to living rooms in the UK, the ad was shot on location in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. Here we followed 10-year-old Sreynet, begging strangers for money for money to survive. We filmed her as she slept on the street - under a net by a streetlight - surrounded by the chaos and dangers of the Phnom Penh night. And we also captured the moment of calm she enjoys at a UNICEF-funded drop-in centre. The ads is unprecedented for the sector inasmuch as they focus on context as much as the child.



Creative Execution

'Sreynet' is a 60-second DRTV ad that tells the story of one girl, Sreynet, in two parts - her life begging on the streets, and her UNICEF-supported schooling. The experiential style of the ads brings home the unspeakable reality of the situation. The direction is up-close-and-personal. The editing is fast-paced and hectic. The soundscape is visceral. The ad helps redefine a genre. There is no artifice. No emotional blackmail. No begging. This is an objective film that treats the children as real people with rights rather than fundraising objects. This a dignified, rights-based approach to global development charity DRTV.



Insights, Strategy & the Idea

In 2010, UNICEF repositioned itself as a protector of children's rights - as outlined by the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC). The CRC is foundation for objectivity. What a child 'needs' is subjective. The violation of child rights, however, is objectively wrong. And UNICEF want to put it right. The objective of this ad, therefore, was to recruit new supporters to UNICEF under this banner at £3 a month. But of equal importance was showing the objective reality of child rights violations. We wanted to take the viewer as close to the action as possible.