Late 2016, the “The Mannequin Challenge” was everywhere. Basically, the challenge involves people standing still like a statue while a video camera captures this motionless group. For people without ALS, acting as a mannequin is a challenge. But for ALS patients, who are forced to go through life like a statue, their life is like one big mannequin challenge – without the fun.

In the first few seconds of the video, you believe you’re watching just another Mannequin Challenge, in a medical lab with researchers and professors in white coats who remained motionless while the camera travels through the area. When the last mannequin appears, the challenge gets a whole other meaning. While the researchers continue their activities, the last mannequin remains motionless, carrying a sign that says “For ALS?patients, every day is a Mannequin Challenge. Help us keep the research moving.”

As internet trends come and go, the time to release the video while the hype was still trending was running out. The agency managed to get the client and laboratory aligned on the production in less than 3 days. The video was then posted on the ALS official Facebook page and rapidly picked up by other Facebook pages, sites, the media and the bigger public.

Without any social media investment, the video reached 2.900.000 views and 18.000 shares on Facebook. The two weeks following the launch of the video, donations went up by 15%. The ALS Mannequin Challenge became the most viewed Belgian Mannequin Challenge in the world. The campaign both made the disease a bit more tangible and gave a sobering reminder that no matter how much fun it is to pretend to be a mannequin, nobody wants to lose the nerves that control muscle movement.