In the semi-arid areas of Brazil, some of the country’s poorest regions, more than 450 thousand children don’t have toilets or basic sanitation in their schools. The lack of hygiene and restricted access to water cause the outbreak of illnesses such as diarrhea, schistosomiasis, amoebiasis and leptospirosis, resulting in alarming numbers of students not attending school.

The chlorine gel brand Vim and UNICEF joined forces to alert the population to the problem and provide better living conditions for these children. With the help of Unilever, which donated part of the advertising budget for Vim to UNICEF, national celebrities, who donated their fees to the campaign, and some major communication vehicles throughout Brazil, who donated advertising space to the action, we created a completely no-cost campaign: without production or even photo costs. Without fees paid to celebrities. Without paying for press.

And, so, we impacted millions of people throughout Brazil, who embraced the cause, donating money and making the dream of bathrooms and basic sanitation a reality for thousands of school-aged children.

Without production or even photo costs, without celebrity fees, and without paying for press, we ran the ads in print and online, with videos and radio spots, all completely free.

We also created a brand channel for the Vim project for UNICEF, where people could learn about the cause and donate however much money they were able to. At the points of sale, R$1 was donated to UNICEF for each bottle of Vim Chlorine Gel sold.

Almost 3 million unique users impacted by the Blank Campaign.

10,436,254 prints (186% more than the original goal, which was 5.6 million).

4,605,709 clicks by unique users.

Schools remodeled. Bathrooms installed. Fewer children missing school. Less disease. Thousands of lives transformed.