Cannes Lions
ABEL & BAKER UK, London / WARCHILD / 2002
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Brief: War Child needed to raise money for starving refugees in Afghanistan, Abel & Baker were asked to find a cost effective way of getting the message. The target group was 25-40 year olds with a tendancy to send email jokes.Solution: Having seen a lot of Powerpoint presentations being sent around in the aftermath of September 11, featuring comic imges of Bin Laden, Taliban men, women in Bhurkas, etc, Abel & Baker decided to use the same format but with the message tailored to War Child's cause. Powerpoint was a deliberately Lo-fi solution inteneded to look home made. Not only was this cheap but it also added to the impact of the message as the user reading the pps expects that it is another joke about the war. As they click through, the images turn from humorous clips taken from other viral mails, to images of refugees. A humorous twist is added when the slide asks if the user is prepared to donate the price of a lunch in the UK to help starving children. If you try to click the NO button it moves away leaving ou with no choice but to click Yes. The campaign raised unprecedented amounts of money online and was viewed by internet users on 4 continents.