Every four years, The Bill & Melinda Gates foundation advocates on behalf of The Global Fund, a financial alliance for the prevention and eradication of infectious diseases. In the context of this year's Global Fund Replenishment Event in Lyon, France, an international group of 300 dignitaries, heads of governments, and Global Health policy makers came together to collectively raise $14 Billion to fund global health initiatives that help to eradicate deadly, infectious diseases around the world.

Confronting a skeptical geopolitical landscape in which international cooperation was giving way to national self-interest and governmental complacency, the foundation tasked us with creating a physical activation and digital content program to build political will for global health financing and drive salience for global health issues including HIV, tuberculosis, and malaria to help The Global Fund reach its lofty fundraising goal.

Leveraging culturally relevant, nostalgic cues from the event’s host country of France, we crafted the news experience of the future. The Optimist Newsstand and its Optimist Newspaper flipped traditional poverty narratives of foreign aid initiatives into innovative visions of human progress never thought possible when The Global Fund launched nearly 20 years ago.

Each element of our experience championed positive global health headlines that painted a tangible picture of how many lives are being saved. It celebrated culturally diverse success stories of inspirational individuals and vibrant communities made possible by international support for Global Health funding.

Both through our physical activation at The Global Fund’s replenishment and through hyper-targeted paid social and digital media, our work engaged directly with global health “influencers” – dignitaries, heads of government, academics, NGO leaders, and policymakers who influence foreign aid spending in countries around the world. Channeling foundation’s tagline of “Impatient Optimism,” our campaign created a 360 experience that emphasized both optimism for collective global health progress made in only 20 years since the Global Fund’s launch and expressed urgency that we can’t let up the fight until each of these deadly, infectious diseases is fully eradicated.

Leveraging culturally relevant, nostalgic cues from the event’s host country of France, we crafted the upbeat and colorful Optimist Newsstand– an experiential news kiosk celebrating global health progress, centered around success stories of inspirational individuals and vibrant communities made possible by global health funding.

Within the Newsstand, we distributed The Optimist Newspaper, promoting positive global health headlines never thought possible when The Global Fund launched nearly 20 years ago. With its future-facing front cover, our newspaper heralded "The Global Fund Saves 14,600 Lives Today"– the number of lives saved every day for the next four years when The Global Fund reaches its fundraising goal.

Bold, culturally diverse illustrations and stories inspired by heroic frontline health workers were also relayed online through paid media and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation’s social channels, successfully increasing attention for global health issues and optimism for the future of global health progress.

ONLINE GLOBAL HEALTH INFLUENCER PERCEPTION TRACKER (OCT 1 - DEC 15 2019)

• +25% “progress is being made to improve global health and reduce poverty”

• +2% “talking about global health increases urgency to combat poverty in developing countries”

• +13% attention minutes given to global health topics and conversations

EVENT ACTIVATION METRICS

• 14.6 Billion Dollars raised for The Global Fund to fight HIV, Malaria, and Tuberculosis

• 750 Newspapers distributed in French and English (avg 2.5 newspapers distributed per attendee)

• 3 International News Media Channels used our Newsstand as a Backdrop to their event coverage

• Countless compliments given to The Optimist Newsstand by dignitaries and heads of government