Sri Lanka, the tear-drop shaped island nation of South Asia, is known for its pristine natural beauty, ethnic and religious diversity, and warm, friendly people. Ravaged by a 20-year civil war, the country had just started rebuilding itself culturally and economically when it was hit by a new tragedy.

As the 2019 Easter bombings were carried out by local radical Islamists, the ethnic and religious divisions were back to the fore again, sowing the seeds of distrust and retaliation. The Muslim community was being demonised and the social fabric of the nation was under threat of being torn apart once again.

As Sri Lanka’s most loved and respected brand that was a part of every family, Sunlight had to go beyond establishing Brand Power scores, by sympathising with the consumer and actually turn around the prevailing climate of distrust and animosity in society by strengthening the bonds of the people.

Sunlight is a 100-year old brand that is a member of virtually every household in Sri Lanka. With its uplifting purpose of ‘Strengthening bonds through care’, Sunlight has managed to transcend a transactional relationship with consumers to one of unstinting trust and love. In fact, every month, the brand doesn’t just sell 7.5 million packs, it reinforces 7.5 million bonds with the people of Sri Lanka.

So, in this moment of national crisis, Sunlight did exactly what one would expect of a family member. It stood resolutely by the side of its family. It didn’t just sympathise and wipe away the tears of its fellow countrymen, but helped them overcome the tragedy in a way that strengthened their bonds - by asking them to open their hearts once more.

Creative Idea:

MANUDAMA WIYAMANA (Fabric of Humanity) - Open hearts and homes to reweave the fabric of humanity in Sri Lanka.

Sunlight shares a special bond with the people of Sri Lanka. It is part of virtually every household, with a presence in an incredible 99.4% of homes. At a time when a lot of distrust was swirling amongst the various communities, a trusted name was needed to reach out to each and every family and bring them together. And no brand was better equipped for this than Sunlight, having been trusted by every family in Sri Lanka.

As a brand, we knew what it meant to put your trust in someone. The fact is, you open the doors of your home only to those you trust, not strangers. Besides, it is not just the physical aspect of letting someone in, but the emotional demonstration of trust in letting someone into your life.

Hence, to convey the idea of trusting one another, we asked people to open their homes. And hearts.

We inspired action in three phases.

Phase 1: The ultimate act of trust

First, we identified genuine victims keen on sharing their message through the church. For authenticity, we worked with the Archdiocese of Colombo and Caritas to ask for volunteers. We then inspired the nation with true stories of opening hearts and homes, supported by a media roadblock, celebrity endorsements and PR activities.

Phase 2: Acting on ‘opening hearts, opening doors’

Next, we appealed to the nation to join the movement. All major media houses came together to cover pledges taken through missed calls, islandwide activations and through the microsite and Facebook.

Phase 3: The sense of reconciliation

For the final part, we created a physical ‘Fabric of Humanity’ with pledges celebrated through the ‘Care Anthem’ sung by celebrities belonging to various ethnic and religious groups, to further strengthen the message of unity through media and the digital influencers.

We wanted to touch every heart of Sri Lanka

Result #1: The campaign not only helped us reach 60% of our audience but it was widely shared

• 43 mn impressions were served on social media

• 3302 hours of video content consumed

• Overall achieved engagement rates of 48%

Result # 2: This campaign was not just a pledge but a plea of commitment towards united Sri Lanka. We got an overwhelming 1233910 pledges!

Result #3: It did show impact even on brand numbers:

• Brand power scores showed a jump of 670bps from 41.8% to 48.5% post campaign

• Even during the slowdown of 2020, the brand was the highest contributor to the Unilever Sri Lanka portfolio. Sunlight Care achieved sales growth of 13.4%

• The brand love translated into a 6.6% spike in the market share in the immediate year.