Ebola’s devastation of West Africa was fuelled by a lack of understanding, coupled with public mistrust and stigmatisation of the health workers fighting it. We needed to educate, and inspire support.

Our strategy was to use something that unites and influences the nation like nothing else: football.

African stars delivered a simple but powerful message – “I’m no hero” – wearing health workers’ names on their backs to symbolise support for these true heroes.

A motivational ‘team talk’ PSA starring Idris Elba educated the public on Ebola’s symptoms and how to avoid it.

Africa United garnered 300M+ impressions internationally from earned media, and a positive response across Africa, where it was screened in stadiums and given airtime during the continent’s biggest sporting event. It made a real impact on health workers: “Everybody’s happy about it. It’s very encouraging and motivating for all the workers here. I want to thank you.”

Time was critical, so the entire campaign was created and launched in seven weeks.

To tackle stigmatisation, we got African football stars to make the unexpected declaration, “I’m no hero”, wearing health workers’ names on their backs to symbolise support for these true heroes.

We partnered with TV channel SuperSport to screen the PSA to an audience of 75m during the Africa Cup of Nations, the continent’s biggest sporting event. The call for action #WeveGotYourBack gave people globally a way to lend their voice.

For education, our PSA was designed to be screened in stadiums before games: ‘West Africa vs. Ebola’ is a motivational team talk in which a coach (Idris Elba) outlines Ebola’s symptoms and the tactics for how to avoid it.

Two sets of posters were distributed in affected regions in local languages, featuring footballers either with messages of support or health messages such as ‘Avoid bodily contact’.

Africa United raised global awareness and support, generating over 300M+ impressions internationally from earned media.

Within 48 hours, it was covered by over 300 news outlets and organisations including CNN, BBC News, Reuters, TIME, United Nations, The Guardian, ABC News, The Daily Mail, Fox News, CNBC Africa, NPR, Upworthy, MTV Act, Voice of America, and campaign posters were given free media space in Times Square.

The message received a positive response across Africa (measured qualitatively by NGO staff), where it was screened in stadiums and given airtime during the continent’s biggest sporting event.

It made a real impact on the heroes fighting Ebola. Health worker reactions following a screening in Sierra Leone:

“I almost wanted to give up... but seeing that video makes me feel good.”

“I love it! Everybody’s happy about it. It’s very encouraging and motivating for all the workers here. So I want to thank you.”