Vaccine hesitancy – the reluctance to vaccinate despite the availability of vaccines – has increasingly become a global pandemic. In fact, the World Health Organization has ranked vaccine hesitancy as one of the top 10 health threats in the world for 2019.

Clearly, vaccination is important, but rather than scare people into awareness, we wanted to create something positive and universally accessible.

These animated social posters, as part of a global vaccine awareness campaign for UNICEF to promote #VaccinesWork, illustrate the protection vaccines provide in a way that’s simple enough to be immediately understood around the world.

Our creative solution was to convey the importance and effectiveness of vaccination in an unmistakably simple way. Once we realized that an arm administering a vaccine to a child could provide a metaphorical barrier of protection, we knew we had something that would resonate across languages and cultures. With the help of some light-hearted animation, we chose to show kids in aspirational roles as a vaccine safeguards them from clear and logical antagonists.

It was important to us to reflect a range of ethnicities in the work, both for diversity, and global distribution. In keeping with the inclusiveness already present in the campaign, we decided to showcase a collection of artistic styles as well, which is why each execution was illustrated by a different artist from around the world.

Our strategic objective was to raise awareness of vaccine safety and the importance of vaccination amongst parents and parents-to-be. Demonstrating the value of vaccination can also inspire more widespread support for immunization, including increased investment, which ultimately leads to more children around the world gaining access to the vaccines that they need. With the growing ubiquity of smartphones globally, it was important to us to have an aspect of the campaign that was leveraging social networks while remaining simple but engaging in its execution.

These animated posters were released – along with other elements of the #VaccinesWork campaign – across UNICEF’s social platforms and relevant paid and donated partner channels to drive awareness during World Vaccination Week (April 24 – 30).

This portion of the campaign was released on UNICEF’s social channels around the world for US, Europe, Japan, and China, and localized for selected country offices, including: Bangladesh, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Ethiopia, India, Indonesia, Kenya, Nigeria, Philippines, Romania, Uganda, and Ukraine. Due to the close timing of World Vaccination Week and the Cannes Lions deadline, measured engagement results are not yet available.