UNICEF (United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund): The Worst Soap Opera [2 min]

Credits & Description:

Brand UNICEF
Entrant PAGÉS BBDO SANTO DOMINGO
PAGÉS BBDO Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic Entrant Company
PAGÉS BBDO Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic Idea Creation
PAGÉS BBDO Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic PR
OMD DOMINICANA Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic Media Placement
Rodolfo Borrell Pagés BBDO CCO
José García Pagés BBDO Creative Director
Esmarlin Moreta Pagés BBDO Copywriter
Fermín Roa Pagés BBDO Art Director
Tomás Manrique Pagés BBDO Account Director
Maité García Pagés BBDO Account Executive
Francesco Abbatescianni Pagés BBDO Brand Strategy Director
Michael Barón Pagés BBDO Digital Director
Belkis de la Cruz Pagés BBDO Media Director
Rosa Elcarte UNICEF Unicef Representative in DR
Synopsis
In the Dominican Republic, 37% of women get married before turning 18, and 12% before their 15th birthday. To make matters worse, the law actually allows this but a big part of the country is blind to this reality.
Unicef asked for our help to make this a matter of national interest and demand action from the government to change the law.
Strategy
Our strategy was to tell the story in a raw way to provoke disgust in the viewers, making them feel uncomfortable and demand the TV networks to take the soap opera off air, which is a common occurrence in our country when it comes to indecent content. We then turned our conversation from disgust into a war cry for change, by revealing that the stories where taken directly from the lives of people going through this kind of violence, true stories that no one would like to see ever again, letting the public know that there is a law that allows child marriage and that it had to be changed. The strategy was to get the support of the public, celebrities, the press and, most importantly, get government officials to change this law.
Outcome
- 10 episodes
-The Worst Soap Opera became trending topic offline & online.
- In the first 2 weeks: More than US$1,048,278 on earned media, More than 6,000,000 views on YouTube and FaceBook, in a country with only 10.6 million people.
-More than 200 airings and placements including major TV networks, PR coverage in TV, newspapers, magazines, digital channels, social media and radio.
-Over 1,000,000 influencers & bloggers echoed our message.
-Congressmen spoke publicly about the necessity to modify the law, and even the Vice-president got involved.
-A new law was made prohibiting marriage until 18 years of age, with out exceptions.
-The Campaign has been officially recognized as one of the most successful UNICEF campaigns.
Execution
In the country, soap operas are the most viewed piece of content. We created a ten episode story about the lusty love of an adult man living with an underage girl and the raw violence and abuse that followed, all while her family was unable to do anything about it.
The show premiered with an integrated campaign and the episodes aired during prime time in the most important TV networks, and on the Internet right after. This ignited a conversation on social media were the viewers and the press asked to take the soap opera off air. Then, on live interviews we revealed that these stories were not fiction and were actually inspired by real life ones. After this, the conversation switched into a public cry from Celebrities, Media, and the public demanding the government to change the law. Each episode of the soup opera became a battle flag.
Campaign Description
We created a piece of content that lured viewers in and showed them this reality. Soap operas are the most watched media and TV content in the country, that's why we created a ten episode story about an unusual kind of love: the lusty love of an adult man living with an underage girl and the raw violence and abuse that followed, all while her family was unable to do anything about it.
The show premiered with an integrated campaign and the episodes aired during prime time in the most important TV networks, and on the Internet right after. Indignation was our goal, we wanted to provoke the audience by making them angry with the content of the soap opera in order to start a conversation.
Brief With Projected Outcomes
In the Dominican Republic, 37% of women get married before turning 18, and 12% before their 15th birthday. To make matters worse, the law actually allows this, where parents can't do nothing to stop it. This is an old law that comes from the time of the colonies and has survive because a large part of the country is blind to this reality or believe that its ok (Mostly males).