Utilizing a presidential election to secure commitment and deliver real results.

How do you utilize a landmark national moment – a presidential election - to place your cause firmly on the political, public and media agenda, and deliver real change?

In 2019 my team launched ‘Ara Wade: A Vote For Children’, a communication and advocacy campaign designed to do just that for child rights. In its four-week run-time, the campaign:

• Secured a public commitment from the five leading presidential candidates including the winner, to prioritize 6 critical children’s issues

• Reached 28 million people through digital, social, traditional media and PR

• Generated 5 million video views, secured 1.19 million engagements, including three mobile-friendly one-minute films on education, poverty and malnutrition

• Secured 22,000 campaign actions

• Engaged 30 major businesses in support

In 2020 the campaign received award recognition:

• In June 2020 the ‘Ara Wade’ campaign won a UNICEF Global Inspire Award and was shortlisted for three in total. The Inspire Awards is an annual global event that recognises the work of 180+ UNICEF offices in private sector fundraising, advocacy, communication and engagement.

• In March 2020 the ‘Ara Wade’ campaign was Awarded Bronze for PR at the EPICA 2020 Sri Lanka Awards

Supporting the launch of a global cause campaign to transform the lives of refugees.

For the IKEA Foundation and UNHCR’s first joint global cause related marketing campaign – Brighter Lives for Refugees – to bring real change for refugees, it needed to be successful in multiple countries.

The production of a high quality communications and social media toolkit for over 50 countries, helped them to explain to the public why a corporate social responsibility (CSR) project providing lighting to refugees was better for safety, employment and education, and therefore encouraged support, through the purchase of LED lights. This toolkit helped the cause campaign to generate:

• Over 100 items of positive international media coverage

• Profile on over 50 UNHCR websites

• Considerable social media exposure

• Over Euro 7.7 million in its first year

Transforming digital communications to grow and engage a new community of supporters and campaigners.

How do you ensure that your cause and your brand remain important to current and potential supporters in a competitive and crowded environment?

Through the implementation of a new digital and social media communications strategy that included a clear content strategy, audience mapping and utilized innovation, between Jan 2017 and July 2020 UNICEF Sri Lanka:

• Grew online supporters by 1,800% from approx. 20,000 to over 380,000

• Reached over 111 million individuals with vital messages

• Generated 17.1 million social engagements

Between January 2019 - January 2020 we achieved:

• 716% increase in digital reach

• 891% increase in digital engagements