A day in life of Elders in Sri Lanka is very long because they are lonely and do nothing important anymore. Most elders rely on newspapers as their main source of information and because they are neglected, newspapers are their only pal. They read almost every letter in the paper to pass their lonely time. But find it difficult to read as they struggle with their eyesight.

To tackle this problem with a heartfelt gesture, on World Elder's Day, ‘Mawbima’ and ‘Ceylon Today’ - 2 of the most widely-distributed Sri Lankan national dailies - decided to print the entire Newspaper with a 70% larger reading font size from 10pt. to 17pt., allowing them to enjoy the news like they never had before.

Every newspaper sold out before 12 noon! This was significantly helped by major morning talk shows picking up on the story and breaking it to the entire country. Apart from that, BIG RESPECT created an important talking point which focused its attention at the life it injected into the print medium which was considered as dying. The connections the papers made with its readers was also talked about and praised worldwide.

We implemented our creative idea by printing a unique version of 'Ceylon Today' and 'Mawbima' - increasing the font size both our entire papers by 70% from 10pts. to 17pts. 3 days prior to the launch of BIG RESPECT we told the entire nation that a big tribute was coming using a clever teaser campaign that utilized the mediums of TV, Radio, Print and Social Media. The hype created ensured that major morning talk shows also picked up on the story and broke it to the entire nation early on World Elders Day.

As a result of BIG RESPECT every newspaper around the country sold out before 12 noon. Significant PR was created in local and regional media, hailing our tribute as a simple, yet groundbreaking creative solution that shed much needed light on an adverse trend affecting Sri Lanka’s senior population. However, leaving aside the overwhelmingly positive financial gains and publicity achieved through this exercise, we managed to accomplish something far greater: by increasing our font size we increased the heart of a nation that again started beating for its elderly. Amidst incomparable appreciation, BIG RESPECT was etched in the history books as one of the great revivers of a long and truly Sri Lankan tradition that looked after its elders.

Circulation for Mawbima & Ceylon Today Newspapers is 190,000 and 65,000 respectively. The average rate of return for unsold newspapers is 8% -10% per newspaper.

On the 1st of October 2014, both newspapers increased their print run by 30% each, resulting in an actual printed number of 247,000 for Mawbima Newspapers and 84,500 for Ceylon Today Newspapers. On this very day, ALL newspapers were sold out with zero returns.

Each newspaper enjoyed a 38% - 40% increase in newspaper sales, resulting in a 382,500 additional readers (average number of readers per newspaper is 5) – source: Ceylon Today Newspapers.