The earthquake that struck Türkiye and Syria on February 6th, 2023, was a catastrophic event, spanning an area equivalent to the UK, with over 55,000 lives lost and 100,000 injured. The mission was to aid the vulnerable, particularly women and children, led by UN Women, to raise donations, mobilising resources for relief efforts. Additionally, the campaign aimed to combat donor fatigue, highlighting UN Women's crucial role beyond fundraising.

Despite social media dominance, trust in reputable news publishers for hard news persists, providing an opportunity to reach engaged audiences. Leveraging the credibility and reach of news brands, the campaign connected with readers predisposed to taking action in crises, illustrating a win-win scenario where impactful messaging coexists with meaningful content, resonating with humanitarian needs.

Working with news partners, we realised that there’s a huge potential and a highly engaged audience across hard news content. However, this inventory is often unsold, and blocked by brands due to safety issues, and publishers struggle to monetise this crucial coverage.

In 2019, The Guardian wrote: “UK newspaper and magazine publishers lost almost £170m in digital revenue last year as technology designed to stop advertisements from appearing next to hard-hitting content, such as shootings and terrorism, also inadvertently blocked them from appearing in some of the most popular stories of the year."​

With the above in mind, we came up with a solution that would; ​

1) Help drive UN Women’s donations 2) Showcase the value of hard news inventory for advertisers.​

In Turkey and Syria, UN Women took a leading role in the global response, providing essential items like sanitary products to women and children in need. This crucial work relies heavily on public support and donations to sustain its impact. However, amidst a challenging landscape of frequent natural hazards and humanitarian emergencies in 2023, donor fatigue became a significant hurdle.

The constant barrage of distressing news often desensitised potential donors, reducing their willingness to contribute. Overcoming this challenge required a fresh approach to highlight the vital mission of UN Women. Drawing inspiration from our experience in media management for commercial brands, we realised the importance of strategic placement. While certain products might not align with hard news content, urgent appeals for organisations like UN Women are perfectly suited for such contexts. Ensuring our message reached audiences at the right moment and in the appropriate setting, we maximized its effectiveness.

We partnered with The Telegraph and The Guardian for 14 days, during the crucial time window when the earthquake was still in the news.

We built creatives for UN Women, and activated the campaign around International Women’s Day, aiming to keep the donations top of mind after the devastating event.

Creative raised awareness of the specific needs of women and girls and detailed how UN Women would support on the ground, using the funds raised to provide basic provisions for babies and children, as well as bedding and sanitary products.​

The messages appeared during the first two weeks of March 2023, timed to coincide with International Women’s Day alongside some of the most-read stories of the period, ensuring our appeal garnered maximum attention.

Thanks to The Telegraph and The Guardian's support, we surpassed expectations, reaching 73% of the UK's High Value Donors. We yielded a remarkable 3,600% increase in UK donations for UN Women's Earthquake appeal, crucial for their work in the region. Our strategic approach directed funds where they were most needed, impacting lives directly by addressing immediate needs and facilitating long-term restoration of livelihoods for earthquake victims.

“On February 6th, the two devastating earthquakes hit 11 provinces, killing more than 50,000 people, and injuring many others. UN Women has been able to work since the early hours to respond to the consequences of this disaster.

From day one, we launched a donation campaign to support women and girls affected. This campaign resulted in a 3,600% uplift in donations. It has been a very fast and needed action and we are grateful for the support.”

Asya Varbanova, UN Women Türkiye Country Director.